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Broadcast Station Update
- Annual EEO Public File Report Deadline
– October 1
Affected States: Alaska, American Samoa, Florida, Guam,
Hawaii, Iowa, Mariana Islands, Missouri, Oregon, Puerto Rico,
Virgin Islands, Washington
- Mid-Term EEO Report for Certain Radio Stations
in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands Deadline –
October 1
Published by DWT's
Broadcast Group
[September 2007]
By October 1, 2007, radio and television Station Employment
Units in the listed states must place in their Public Inspection
File and post on their website, if they have a website, their
FCC Annual EEO Public File Report. A Station Employment Unit
(SEU) is a group of stations, under common control, serving
a common area, and sharing at least one employee. If an SEU
includes stations in different states with different filing
deadlines, the SEU can select which filing deadline it will
use. Once selected, the Annual Report filing deadline should
be consistently applied for all future EEO Annual Reports. The
states with the October 1 filing deadline are: Alaska, American
Samoa, Florida, Guam, Hawaii, Iowa, Mariana Islands, Missouri,
Oregon, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Washington.
| SPECIAL NOTE: MID-TERM EEO
REPORT ON FCC FORM 397 REQUIRED OCTOBER 1 FOR CERTAIN
RADIO STATIONS IN FLORIDA, PUERTO RICO, AND THE VIRGIN
ISLANDS
In addition to preparing the Annual EEO Public File Report
by October 1, larger radio stations in Florida, Puerto
Rico, and the Virgin Islands must also prepare and file
with the Commission an FCC Form 397 Mid-Term EEO Report.
Please note, only Station Employment Units located in
these three jurisdictions with 11 or more full-time employees
are required to file an FCC Form 397 by October 1, 2007.
The Form 397 provides the FCC with copies of the Station
Employment Unit’s two most recent Annual EEO Public
File Reports (the reports from this year and last year),
and is an important part of both the station’s compliance
with the EEO rules and the Commission’s monitoring
procedures. While normally the Annual EEO Public File
Report is simply prepared and placed in the station’s
public file and on its website (if it has one), at the
mid-term of the license term and again at the time the
station’s license renewal application is filed,
stations must actually provide the FCC with its two most
recent Public File Reports. This allows the FCC and the
public to review the station’s compliance with the
EEO rules. October 1, 2007 marks the mid-point in the
license term for radio stations in Florida, Puerto Rico,
and the Virgin Islands. Television stations in these states
will file a Mid-Term EEO Report this time next year. |
Background on EEO requirements
The FCC's EEO rule requires all radio and television
SEUs, regardless of staff size, to afford equal employment opportunity
to all qualified persons and to practice nondiscrimination in
employment. The Annual EEO Public File Report summarizes the
activities of SEUs with five or more full-time employees ("Nonexempt
SEUs") that demonstrate compliance with the FCC's three-prong
outreach requirements. All Nonexempt SEUs must comply with the
following “prongs” of the EEO outreach requirements:
(1) broadly and inclusively disseminate information about every
full-time job opening except in exigent circumstances (commonly
referred to as the requirement for “ Wide Dissemination”);
(2) send notifications of full-time job vacancies to recruitment
organizations that have requested notice; and (3) participate
in a specified number of outreach initiatives (so-called “Supplemental
Efforts”) from the FCC's menu of such options during each
of the four, two-year segments that comprise a station's eight-year
license term. The Supplemental Efforts must be conducted even
if a station has had no job openings in the prior year in an
effort to educate the community as to the types of jobs available
at broadcast stations, the training and qualifications required
for such jobs, and the way in which people can find out about
and apply for broadcast openings.
The specifics of these rules are complex, and
the requirements must be carefully observed, as the FCC has
recently fined stations who have overlooked their obligations.
A primer on the EEO requirements, summarizing these requirements
in greater detail, can be found on our website.
Annual EEO Public File Report deadline, contents
By October 1, 2007, all Nonexempt SEUs of radio and television
stations, including Class A television stations and LPTV stations,
licensed to communities in the states listed above, must: (1)
place their Annual EEO Public File Report in the public inspection
files of all stations comprising the SEU; and (2) post the Report
on the websites, if any station in the SEU has a website.
The Annual EEO Public File Report summarizes the Nonexempt
SEU's EEO activities during the previous 12 months, and it must
include the following:
- A list of all full-time vacancies filled during the preceding
year, identified by job title;
- A list of the recruitment source(s) used to fill each of
those vacancies (including organizations that specifically
requested notification of all job vacancies pursuant to Prong
2 of the EEO outreach rules), including the address, contact
person, and telephone number for each source. Prong 2 sources
should be specifically identified;
- An identification of the recruitment source that referred
the person hired for each full-time vacancy;
- 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 during the year (be careful to insure that the number
of interviewees broken down by recruitment source equals the
number you give for the total number of interviewees during
the preceding year); and
- A list and brief description of Prong 3 menu options implemented
during the preceding year. The list should be sufficiently
detailed so as to demonstrate that each activity involved
a substantial and meaningful commitment of staff time to the
particular activity by SEU employees.
There is no FCC form for the Annual EEO Public File Report.
Nonexempt SEUs may use any format that clearly provides the
required information. For example, if a Nonexempt SEU used the
same recruitment sources for all its vacancies, it may maintain
a single list of those sources which indicates that they were
used for all vacancies. If a Nonexempt SEU used different sources
for different vacancies, it may maintain a master list of all
its sources and use a cross-reference system to show which sources
were used for which vacancies. A model Public Inspection File
Report, which can be tailored by your station to reflect your
station practices, is attached as Appendix
A.
According to the FCC rules, the Annual EEO Public File Report
covers activities during the period from October 1, 2006 through
September 30, 2007. However, the FCC has issued a public notice
allowing nonexempt SEUs to opt to "cut off" the reporting
period up to ten days before September 30. This gives the SEU
a period of time in which to prepare the report and place it
in the public file, and upload it to the website, before the
October 1 deadline. If you elect to use this 10-day grace period,
be sure that the next reporting period begins the day after
the cut-off date that you select. For example, if the Nonexempt
SEU has cut off the reporting as of September 25, 2007 for this
year's report, next year the Nonexempt SEU must use the period
beginning on September 26, 2007 for the 2008 report.
FCC Form 395-B
In the past, FCC Form 395-B, the Broadcast Station Annual Employment
Report, was due by September 30. In 2004, the FCC readopted
the requirement that Form 395-B be filed with the FCC by that
date each year. However, the FCC has put the filing requirement
on hold until it determines if the information gathered by the
Form 395-B will be available for public review, or if it will
be kept confidential and used only by the FCC for compiling
overall industry statistics. While the issue of confidentiality
is being considered, no filing deadline has been established.
Thus, the FCC never gave notice of a date for the filing of
the 2004 or 2005 reports, and has not yet said anything about
a deadline for any 2007 Form 395-B. Unless such a date is announced,
no Form 395-B filing is due in 2007.
If outreach is not documented, it did
not happen
Records documenting performance under the EEO Rule are critical
because the Commission will not allow credits for Menu Option
Initiatives that are not reported in an SEU's Annual EEO Public
File Report nor adequately documented. We recommend that stations
have communications counsel review their draft report, including
supporting material, prior to placing it in the public file.
The Commission enforces the EEO rules through review at the
time of license renewal, at mid-term for larger broadcasters,
and through random audits and targeted investigations resulting
from information received as to possible violations. The Commission
selects for audit approximately five percent of all licensees
in the radio and television services each year. The random audits
check for compliance with the requirements outlined in this
Update, and are planned to continue indefinitely. The FCC's
Public Notices listing audited stations are available at: www.fcc.gov/mb/policy/eeo.
This update can only briefly summarize the detailed requirements
of the EEO Public Inspection File Report. For more information
on your obligations, and practical compliance advice, please
contact any of the lawyers in the Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Broadcast Practice Area.
For more information, please contact:
This advisory is
a publication of the Broadcast Group of Davis Wright Tremaine
LLP. Our purpose in publishing this advisory is to inform our
clients and friends of recent developments in the broadcasting
industry. It is not intended, nor should it be used, as a substitute
for specific legal advice as legal counsel may only be given
in response to inquiries regarding particular situations.
Copyright © 2007, Davis Wright
Tremaine LLP.
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