Goto Section: 73.1944 | 73.2090 | Table of Contents
FCC 73.2080
Revised as of October 1, 2011
Goto Year:2010 |
2012
§ 73.2080 Equal employment opportunities (EEO).
(a) General EEO policy. Equal opportunity in employment shall be
afforded by all licensees or permittees of commercially or
noncommercially operated AM, FM, TV, Class A TV or international
broadcast stations (as defined in this part) to all qualified persons,
and no person shall be discriminated against in employment by such
stations because of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex.
Religious radio broadcasters may establish religious belief or
affiliation as a job qualification for all station employees. However,
they cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin
or gender from among those who share their religious affiliation or
belief. For purposes of this rule, a religious broadcaster is a
licensee which is, or is closely affiliated with, a church, synagogue,
or other religious entity, including a subsidiary of such an entity.
(b) General EEO program requirements. Each broadcast station shall
establish, maintain, and carry out a positive continuing program of
specific practices designed to ensure equal opportunity and
nondiscrimination in every aspect of station employment policy and
practice. Under the terms of its program, a station shall:
(1) Define the responsibility of each level of management to ensure
vigorous enforcement of its policy of equal opportunity, and establish
a procedure to review and control managerial and supervisory
performance;
(2) Inform its employees and recognized employee organizations of the
equal employment opportunity policy and program and enlist their
cooperation;
(3) Communicate its equal employment opportunity policy and program and
its employment needs to sources of qualified applicants without regard
to race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, and solicit their
recruitment assistance on a continuing basis;
(4) Conduct a continuing program to exclude all unlawful forms of
prejudice or discrimination based upon race, color, religion, national
origin, or sex from its personnel policies and practices and working
conditions; and
(5) Conduct a continuing review of job structure and employment
practices and adopt positive recruitment, job design, and other
measures needed to ensure genuine equality of opportunity to
participate fully in all organizational units, occupations, and levels
of responsibility.
(c) Specific EEO program requirements. Under the terms of its program,
a station employment unit must:
(1) Recruit for every full-time job vacancy in its operation. A job
filled by an internal promotion is not considered a vacancy for which
recruitment is necessary. Religious radio broadcasters who establish
religious affiliation as a qualification for a job position are not
required to comply with these recruitment requirements with respect to
that job position or positions, but will be expected to make
reasonable, good faith efforts to recruit applicants who are qualified
based on their religious affiliation. Nothing in this section shall be
interpreted to require a broadcaster to grant preferential treatment to
any individual or group based on race, color, national origin,
religion, or gender.
(i) A station employment unit shall use recruitment sources for each
vacancy sufficient in its reasonable, good faith judgment to widely
disseminate information concerning the vacancy.
(ii) In addition to such recruitment sources, a station employment unit
shall provide notification of each full-time vacancy to any
organization that distributes information about employment
opportunities to job seekers or refers job seekers to employers, upon
request by such organization. To be entitled to notice of vacancies,
the requesting organization must provide the station employment unit
with its name, mailing address, e-mail address (if applicable),
telephone number, and contact person, and identify the category or
categories of vacancies of which it requests notice. (An organization
may request notice of all vacancies).
(2) Engage in at least four (if the station employment unit has more
than ten full-time employees and is not located in a smaller market) or
two (if it has five to ten full-time employees and/or is located
entirely in a smaller market) of the following initiatives during each
two-year period beginning with the date stations in the station
employment unit are required to file renewal applications, or the
second, fourth or sixth anniversaries of that date.
(i) Participation in at least four job fairs by station personnel who
have substantial responsibility in the making of hiring decisions;
(ii) Hosting of at least one job fair;
(iii) Co-sponsoring at least one job fair with organizations in the
business and professional community whose membership includes
substantial participation of women and minorities;
(iv) Participation in at least four events sponsored by organizations
representing groups present in the community interested in broadcast
employment issues, including conventions, career days, workshops, and
similar activities;
(v) Establishment of an internship program designed to assist members
of the community to acquire skills needed for broadcast employment;
(vi) Participation in job banks, Internet programs, and other programs
designed to promote outreach generally ( i.e., that are not primarily
directed to providing notification of specific job vacancies);
(vii) Participation in scholarship programs designed to assist students
interested in pursuing a career in broadcasting;
(viii) Establishment of training programs designed to enable station
personnel to acquire skills that could qualify them for higher level
positions;
(ix) Establishment of a mentoring program for station personnel;
(x) Participation in at least four events or programs sponsored by
educational institutions relating to career opportunities in
broadcasting;
(xi) Sponsorship of at least two events in the community designed to
inform and educate members of the public as to employment opportunities
in broadcasting;
(xii) Listing of each upper-level category opening in a job bank or
newsletter of media trade groups whose membership includes substantial
participation of women and minorities;
(xiii) Provision of assistance to unaffiliated non-profit entities in
the maintenance of web sites that provide counseling on the process of
searching for broadcast employment and/or other career development
assistance pertinent to broadcasting;
(xiv) Provision of training to management level personnel as to methods
of ensuring equal employment opportunity and preventing discrimination;
(xv) Provision of training to personnel of unaffiliated non-profit
organizations interested in broadcast employment opportunities that
would enable them to better refer job candidates for broadcast
positions;
(xvi) Participation in other activities designed by the station
employment unit reasonably calculated to further the goal of
disseminating information as to employment opportunities in
broadcasting to job candidates who might otherwise be unaware of such
opportunities.
(3) Analyze its recruitment program on an ongoing basis to ensure that
it is effective in achieving broad outreach to potential applicants,
and address any problems found as a result of its analysis.
(4) Periodically analyze measures taken to:
(i) Disseminate the station's equal employment opportunity program to
job applicants and employees;
(ii) Review seniority practices to ensure that such practices are
nondiscriminatory;
(iii) Examine rates of pay and fringe benefits for employees having the
same duties, and eliminate any inequities based upon race, national
origin, color, religion, or sex discrimination;
(iv) Utilize media for recruitment purposes in a manner that will
contain no indication, either explicit or implicit, of a preference for
one race, national origin, color, religion or sex over another;
(v) Ensure that promotions to positions of greater responsibility are
made in a nondiscriminatory manner;
(vi) Where union agreements exist, cooperate with the union or unions
in the development of programs to ensure all persons of equal
opportunity for employment, irrespective of race, national origin,
color, religion, or sex, and include an effective nondiscrimination
clause in new or renegotiated union agreements; and
(vii) Avoid the use of selection techniques or tests that have the
effect of discriminating against any person based on race, national
origin, color, religion, or sex.
(5) Retain records to document that it has satisfied the requirements
of paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) of this section. Such records, which may
be maintained in an electronic format, shall be retained until after
grant of the renewal application for the term during which the vacancy
was filled or the initiative occurred. Such records need not be
submitted to the FCC unless specifically requested. The following
records shall be maintained:
(i) Listings of all full-time job vacancies filled by the station
employment unit, identified by job title;
(ii) For each such vacancy, the recruitment sources utilized to fill
the vacancy (including, if applicable, organizations entitled to
notification pursuant to paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section, which
should be separately identified), identified by name, address, contact
person and telephone number;
(iii) Dated copies of all advertisements, bulletins, letters, faxes,
e-mails, or other communications announcing vacancies;
(iv) Documentation necessary to demonstrate performance of the
initiatives required by paragraph (c)(2) of this section, including
sufficient information to fully disclose the nature of the initiative
and the scope of the station's participation, including the station
personnel involved;
(v) The total number of interviewees for each vacancy and the referral
source for each interviewee; and
(vi) The date each vacancy was filled and the recruitment source that
referred the hiree.
(6) Annually, on the anniversary of the date a station is due to file
its renewal application, the station shall place in its public file,
maintained pursuant to § 73.3526 or § 73.3527, and on its web site, if
it has one, an EEO public file report containing the following
information (although if any broadcast licensee acquires a station
pursuant to FCC Form 314 or FCC Form 315 during the twelve months
covered by the EEO public file report, its EEO public file report shall
cover the period starting with the date it acquired the station):
(i) A list of all full-time vacancies filled by the station's
employment unit during the preceding year, identified by job title;
(ii) For each such vacancy, the recruitment source(s) utilized to fill
the vacancy (including, if applicable, organizations entitled to
notification pursuant to paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section, which
should be separately identified), identified by name, address, contact
person and telephone number;
(iii) The recruitment source that referred the hiree for each full-time
vacancy during the preceding year;
(iv) Data reflecting the total number of persons interviewed for
full-time vacancies during the preceding year and the total number of
interviewees referred by each recruitment source utilized in connection
with such vacancies; and
(v) A list and brief description of initiatives undertaken pursuant to
paragraph (c)(2) of this section during the preceding year.
(d) Small station exemption. The provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c)
of this section shall not apply to station employment units that have
fewer than five full-time employees.
(e) Definitions. For the purposes of this rule:
(1) A full-time employee is a permanent employee whose regular work
schedule is 30 hours per week or more.
(2) A station employment unit is a station or a group of commonly owned
stations in the same market that share at least one employee.
(3) A smaller market includes metropolitan areas as defined by the
Office of Management and Budget with a population of fewer than 250,000
persons and areas outside of all metropolitan areas as defined by the
Office of Management and Budget.
(f) Enforcement. The following provisions apply to employment activity
concerning full-time positions at each broadcast station employment
unit (defined in this part) employing five or more persons in full-time
positions, except where noted.
(1) All broadcast stations, including those that are part of an
employment unit with fewer than five full-time employees, shall file a
Broadcast Equal Employment Opportunity Program Report (Form 396) with
their renewal application. Form 396 is filed on the date the station is
due to file its application for renewal of license. If a broadcast
licensee acquires a station pursuant to FCC Form 314 or FCC Form 315
during the period that is to form the basis for the Form 396,
information provided on its Form 396 should cover the licensee's EEO
recruitment activity during the period starting with the date it
acquired the station. Stations are required to maintain a copy of their
Form 396 in the station's public file in accordance with the provisions
of § § 73.3526 and 73.3527.
(2) The Commission will conduct a mid-term review of the employment
practices of each broadcast television station and each radio station
that is part of an employment unit of more than ten full-time employees
four years following the station's most recent license expiration date
as specified in § 73.1020. Each such licensee is required to file with
the Commission the Broadcast Mid-Term Report (FCC Form 397) four months
prior to that date. If a broadcast licensee acquires a station pursuant
to FCC Form 314 or FCC Form 315 during the period that is to form the
basis for the Form 397, its Report should cover the licensee's EEO
recruitment activity during the period starting with the date it
acquired the station.
(3) If a station is subject to a time brokerage agreement, the licensee
shall file Forms 396, Forms 397, and EEO public file reports concerning
only its own recruitment activity. If a licensee is a broker of another
station or stations, the licensee-broker shall include its recruitment
activity for the brokered station(s) in determining the bases of Forms
396, Forms 397 and the EEO public file reports for its own station. If
a licensee-broker owns more than one station, it shall include its
recruitment activity for the brokered station in the Forms 396, Forms
397, and EEO public file reports filed for its own station that is most
closely affiliated with, and in the same market as, the brokered
station. If a licensee-broker does not own a station in the same market
as the brokered station, then it shall include its recruitment activity
for the brokered station in the Forms 396, Forms 397, and EEO public
file reports filed for its own station that is geographically closest
to the brokered station.
(4) Broadcast stations subject to this section shall maintain records
of their recruitment activity necessary to demonstrate that they are in
compliance with the EEO rule. Stations shall ensure that they maintain
records sufficient to verify the accuracy of information provided in
Forms 396, Forms 397, and EEO public file reports. To determine
compliance with the EEO rule, the Commission may conduct inquiries of
licensees at random or if it has evidence of a possible violation of
the EEO rule. In addition, the Commission will conduct random audits.
Specifically, each year approximately five percent of all licensees in
the television and radio services will be randomly selected for audit,
ensuring that, even though the number of radio licensees is
significantly larger than television licensees, both services are
represented in the audit process. Upon request, stations shall make
records available to the Commission for its review.
(5) The public may file complaints throughout the license term based on
a station's Form 397 or the contents of a station's public file.
Provisions concerning filing, withdrawing, or non-filing of informal
objections or petitions to deny license renewal, assignment, or
transfer applications are delineated in § § 73.3584 and 73.3587-3589 of
the Commission's rules.
(g) Sanctions and remedies. The Commission may issue appropriate
sanctions and remedies for any violation of this rule.
[ 68 FR 689 , Jan. 7, 2003]
Goto Section: 73.1944 | 73.2090
Goto Year: 2010 |
2012
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