Agency Information Collection Activities: Notice of Submission for OMB Review; Final Comment Request, 43445-43447 [E8-17070]

Agencies

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 144 (Friday, July 25, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43445-43447]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-17070]


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EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION


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

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 hereby gives notice that it is 
submitting the information collection described below to the Office of 
Management and Budget for a three-year authorization.

DATES: Written comments on this final notice must be submitted on or 
before August 25, 2008.

ADDRESSES: The Request for Clearance (SF 83-I) and supporting statement 
submitted to OMB for review may be obtained from: Carol R. Miaskoff, 
Assistant Legal Counsel, Office of Legal Counsel, Equal Employment 
Opportunity Commission, 1801 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20507. 
Comments on this final notice must be submitted to Chandana Achanta, 
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and 
Budget, 725 17th Street, NW., Room 10235, New Executive Office 
Building, Washington, DC 20503, or electronically mailed to: Chandana_
L._Achanta@omb.eop.gov.
    Copies of comments should be submitted to the EEOC using one of the 
following methods:
     By the Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. After accessing this Web site, follow its 
instructions for submitting comments.

[[Page 43446]]

     By mail to Stephen Llewellyn, Executive Officer, Executive 
Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 10th floor, 1801 
``L'' Street, NW., Washington, DC 20507; or by facsimile (``FAX'') 
machine to (202) 663-4114. (This is not a toll free 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 (TTD). (These are not toll 
free numbers).
    All comments received by the EEOC will be posted without change to 
the Federal rulemaking portal, https://www.regulations.gov, including 
any personal information provided.
    Copies of the 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 
August 25, 2008 until this item is finalized. 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). 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol R. Miaskoff, Assistant Legal 
Counsel, 1801 L Street, NW., Washington, DC 20507; (202) 663-4638 
(voice) or (202) 663-7026 (TTY). This notice is also available in the 
following formats: large print, Braille, audio tape and electronic file 
on computer disk. Requests for this notice in an alternative format 
should be made to the Publications Center at 1-800-669-3362.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A notice that the Equal Employment 
Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) would be submitting the 
Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP or Uniform 
Guidelines) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), for a three-
year approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), was 
published in the Federal Register on March 25, 2008, allowing for a 60-
day public comment period. 73 FR 15754 (Mar. 25, 2008). At that time, 
the EEOC announced that it would submit the Uniform Guidelines without 
change from its original form as adopted in 1978, and without change in 
the original interpretive Qs & As adopted in 1979 and 1980. The Uniform 
Guidelines continue to provide fundamental and consistent federal 
guidance for all Title VII-covered employers about the use of 
employment selection procedures.
    Nine parties submitted written comments in response to the March 
2008 notice: five federal agencies (including two sister UGESP agencies 
concurring with the proposal) and four other parties, including 
representatives of federal contractors and businesses generally, a 
civil rights organization, and an economic consultant. Three parties 
focused their comments on responding to the PRA's mandatory questions 
about data utility and burden. Of these parties, two agreed that the 
UGESP recordkeeping requirements were necessary and useful for the 
EEOC's performance of its enforcement responsibilities and also 
accepted the EEOC's burden estimate. One commenter found the data 
collection was unnecessary and burdensome, and disagreed with the 
EEOC's burden estimate. The EEOC's burden calculation is based on 
contemporary, publicly-available data. It reflects the ongoing burden 
of collecting and storing demographic data for job applicants. Because 
UGESP remains unchanged, the burden estimate does not reflect the cost 
of new information systems or software.
    Five commenters agreed with the EEOC's decision to submit UGESP for 
PRA authorization without change, including the Department of Labor and 
the Office of Personnel Management, sister UGESP agencies. The reasons 
include preserving consistency in regulation, preserving a necessary 
data tool, and not disturbing the now-standard business practice of 
collecting demographic data from applicants. As an enforcement agency, 
the EEOC believes that UGESP is a necessary recordkeeping tool, which 
also provides fundamental and consistent federal guidance for all Title 
VII-covered employers about the use of employment selection procedures.
    Most commenters supported the decision not to finalize the UGESP 
agencies' proposed March 2004 subregulatory Qs and As. These proposed 
Qs and As defined electronic applicant for purposes of implementing the 
Uniform Guidelines. 69 FR 10152 (Mar. 4, 2004). Several parties cited 
the 2005 internet applicant regulation issued by Department of Labor's 
(DOL) OFCCP, the agency responsible for enforcement of Executive Order 
11246, and two parties urged the Commission to consider alternative 
guidance after further study of the issues. Another party stated that 
UGESP and its existing Qs and As, without change, were sufficient. 
DOL's OFCCP concurred in the decision not to finalize the proposed Qs 
and As, and to submit UGESP without change to OMB. Maintaining UGESP in 
its current form is the appropriate course at this time.

Overview of This Information Collection

    Collection Title: Recordkeeping Requirements of the Uniform 
Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 CFR part 1607, 41 CFR 
part 60-3, 28 CFR part 50, 5 CFR part 300.
    OMB Number: 3046-0017.
    Form Number: None.
    Frequency of Report: None.
    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.
    Cost to Respondents: $182,164,775.20.
    Recordkeeping Hours: 14,822,194.89.
    Number of Forms: None.
    Federal Cost: 0.
    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 by 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-

[[Page 43447]]

covered employers in one year, including both paper-based and 
electronic applications. The total number of job applications submitted 
every year to 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 costs 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 
14,822,194.89. 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 approximately $182,164,775.20 per year 
for Title VII-covered employers.

    Dated: July 17, 2008.

    For the Commission.
Naomi C. Earp,
Chair.
[FR Doc. E8-17070 Filed 7-24-08; 8:45 am]
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