Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Submission for OMB Review; Request for Comments, 15754-15755 [E8-5903]

Agencies

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 58 (Tuesday, March 25, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15754-15755]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5903]


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EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION

[OMB Number: 3046-0017]


Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Submission 
for OMB Review; Request for Comments

AGENCY: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Information Collection--Uniform Guidelines on 
Employee Selection Procedures.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) gives notice of its 
intent to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request 
to approve a renewal of an information collection as described below.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before 
May 27, 2008.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods:
     By mail to: Stephen Llewellyn, Executive Officer, 
Executive Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 1801 L 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20507.
     By facsimile (``FAX'') machine to: (202) 663-4114. (There 
is no toll free FAX number). Only comments of six or fewer pages will 
be accepted via FAX transmittal, in order to assure access to the 
equipment. Receipt of FAX transmittals will not be acknowledged, except 
that the sender may request confirmation of receipt by calling the 
Executive Secretariat staff at (202) 663-4070 (voice) or (202) 663-4074 
(TTY). (These are not toll free numbers).
     By the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. After accessing this Web site, follow its 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Comments need to be submitted in only one of the above-listed 
formats, not all three. All comments received will be posted without 
change to https://www.regulations.gov, including any personal 
information you provide. Copies of the received comments also will be 
available for inspection in the EEOC Library, FOIA Reading Room, by 
advance appointment only, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday 
except legal holidays, from May 27, 2008 until the Commission publishes 
the 30-day notice for this item. Persons who schedule an appointment in 
the EEOC Library, FOIA Reading Room, and need assistance to view the 
comments will be provided with appropriate aids upon request, such as 
readers or print magnifiers. To schedule an appointment to inspect the 
comments at the EEOC Library, FOIA Reading Room, contact the EEOC 
Library by calling (202) 663-4630 (voice) or (202) 663-4641 (TTY). 
(These are not toll free numbers).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Reed L. Russell, Legal Counsel, 1801 L 
Street, NW., Washington, DC 20507; (202) 663-4638 (voice) or (202) 663-
7026 (TTY).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Introduction

    The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) 
gives notice of its intent to submit the Uniform Guidelines on Employee 
Selection Procedures (UGESP or Uniform Guidelines),\1\ without change, 
to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a three-year approval 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA). A prior PRA document 
relating to the Uniform Guidelines entitled ``Agency Information 
Collection Activities: Adoption of Additional Questions and Answers To 
Clarify and Provide a Common Interpretation of the Uniform Guidelines 
on Employee Selection Procedures as They Relate to the Internet and 
Related Technologies,'' was published in the March 4, 2004 Federal 
Register. 69 FR 10152. (``March 4, 2004 PRA document'').
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    \1\ 29 CFR part 1607, 41 CFR part 60-3, 28 CFR part 50, 5 CFR 
part 300.
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    Based on the comments received to the March 4, 2004 PRA document, 
the EEOC does not intend to finalize the five additional Questions and 
Answers that include clarification of the definition of ``applicant.'' 
However, employers still must ensure that they are complying with the 
requirements of UGESP.
    The preamble of the March 4, 2004 PRA document stated that ``[e]ach 
agency may provide further information, as appropriate, through the 
issuance of additional guidance or regulations that will allow each 
agency to carry out its specific enforcement responsibilities.'' 69 FR 
10153. The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance 
Programs then amended its regulations governing applicant recordkeeping 
requirements ``in light of [its] unique use of applicant data for 
compliance monitoring and other enforcement purposes.'' 70 FR 58946.
    In light of the EEOC's unique enforcement responsibilities and 
priorities monitoring employment practices and detecting employment 
discrimination, it will determine, after further study, how and if it 
should issue further guidance or regulations clarifying Title VII of 
the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act 
regarding when employers and job seekers use the Internet and related 
technologies.

Request for Comments

    The EEOC invites comments enabling the agency to:
    (1) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (3) Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; and
    (4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

Overview of Collection

    Collection Title: Recordkeeping Requirements of the Uniform 
Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29

[[Page 15755]]

CFR part 1607, 41 CFR part 60-3, 28 CFR part 50, 5 CFR part 300.
    OMB Number: 3046-0017.
    Type of Respondent: Businesses or other institutions; federal 
government; state or local governments and farms.
    North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Code: 
Multiple.
    Standard Industrial Classification Code (SIC): Multiple.
    Description of Affected Public: Any employer, government 
contractor, labor organization, or employment agency covered by the 
federal equal employment opportunity laws.
    Respondents: 846,156.
    Responses: 846,156.
    Recordkeeping Hours: 14,822,194.89.
    Number of Forms: None.
    Form Number: None.
    Frequency of Report: None.
    Abstract: The records addressed by UGESP are used by respondents to 
assure that they are complying with Title VII and Executive Order 
11246; by the federal agencies that enforce Title VII and/or Executive 
Order 11246 to investigate, conciliate and litigate charges of 
employment discrimination; and by complainants to establish violations 
of federal equal employment opportunity laws.
    Burden Statement: There are no reporting requirements associated 
with UGESP. The burden being estimated is the cost of collecting and 
storing a job applicant's gender, race and ethnicity data. The only 
paperwork burden derives from this recordkeeping.
    Only employers covered under Title VII and Executive Order 11246 
are subject to UGESP. For the purpose of burden calculation, employers 
with 15 or more employees are counted. The number of such employers is 
estimated at 846,156, which combines estimates from private employment, 
the public sector, colleges and universities, and referral unions.
    This burden assessment is based on an estimate of the total number 
of job applications submitted to all Title VII-covered employers in one 
year, including paper-based and electronic applications. The total 
number of job applications submitted every year to these covered 
employers is estimated to be 1,778,663,387, which is based on a 
National Organizations Survey average of 35.225 applications for every 
hire and a Bureau of Labor Statistics data estimate of 50,490,000 
annual hires. It also includes 153,137 applicants for union membership 
reported on the EEO-3 form for 2006.
    The employer burden associated with collecting and storing 
applicant demographic data is based on the following assumptions: 
applicants would need to be asked to provide three pieces of 
information--sex, race/ethnicity, and an identification number (a total 
of approximately 13 keystrokes); the employer would need to transfer 
information received to a data base either manually or electronically; 
and the employer would need to store the 13 characters of information 
for each applicant. Recordkeeping cost and burden are assumed to be the 
cost of entering 13 keystrokes.
    Assuming that the required recordkeeping takes 30 seconds per 
record, and assuming a total of 1,778,663,387 paper and electronic 
applications per year, the resulting UGESP burden hours would be 
14,822,195. Based on a wage rate of $12.29 per hour for the individuals 
entering the data, the collection and storage of applicant demographic 
data would come to $182,164,777 per year for Title VII-covered 
employers.

    Dated: March 17, 2008.
Naomi C. Earp,
Chair, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
[FR Doc. E8-5903 Filed 3-24-08; 8:45 am]
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