[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 32 (Friday, February 15, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11175-11179]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03528]


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EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities

AGENCY: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

ACTION: Notice of Information Collection--Revised: Demographic 
Information on Applicants for Federal Employment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 
U.S.C. Chapter 35, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
(Commission or EEOC) announces that it intends to revise a Commission 
form (Demographic Information on Applicants, OMB No. 3046-0046) to 
include disability status data.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before 
April 16, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Executive Officer, Executive 
Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 131 M Street, 
NE., Washington, DC 20507. As a convenience to commenters, the 
Executive Secretariat will accept comments totaling six or fewer pages 
by facsimile (``FAX'') machine. This limitation is necessary to assure 
access to the equipment. The telephone number of the fax receiver is 
(202) 663-4114. (This is not a toll-free number). 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 telephone numbers.) Instead of sending written comments to 
the EEOC, you may submit comments and attachments electronically at 
http://www.regulations.gov, which is the Federal eRulemaking Portal. 
Follow the instructions online for submitting comments. All comments 
received through this portal will be posted without change, including 
any personal information you provide. Copies of comments submitted by 
the public to the EEOC directly or through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal will be available for review, by advance appointment only, at 
the Commission's

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library between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. or can be reviewed 
at http://www.regulations.gov. To schedule an appointment to inspect 
the comments at EEOC's library, contact the library staff at (202) 663-
4630 (voice) or (202) 663-4641 (TTY). (These are not toll-free 
numbers.)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barbara Dougherty, Federal Sector 
Programs, Office of Federal Operations, 131 M Street NE., Washington, 
DC 20507, (202) 663-4770 (voice); (202) 663-4593 (TTY).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On July 26, 2010, President Obama issued 
Executive Order 13548, which directs Executive departments and agencies 
(hereafter ``agencies'') to improve their efforts to employ Federal 
workers with disabilities through increased recruitment, hiring, and 
retention of these individuals. OPM, in consultation with the White 
House (including the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)), the 
Department of Labor (DOL), and the EEOC has developed, as required by 
the EO 13548, model recruitment and hiring strategies for agencies to 
use to increase their employment of individuals with disabilities. 
(http://www.chcoc.gov/transmittals/TransmittalDetails.aspx?TransmittalID=3228#Attachment1) The strategies 
include collecting, maintaining, and analyzing applicant flow data and 
examining existing recruitment programs and hiring practices to 
identify and eliminate any barriers to recruiting/hiring individuals 
with disabilities and, in particular, individuals with targeted 
disabilities.
    This Notice concerns revising the form (OMB No. 3046-0046) for the 
use by federal agencies in gathering data on the race, ethnicity, and 
sex of job applicants. This form is used by EEOC and other agencies to 
gauge progress and trends over time with respect to equal employment 
opportunity goals. The revision would add disability status of 
applicants to the collection, thereby allowing the agencies and EEOC to 
track progress toward meeting the recruitment and hiring strategies 
developed pursuant to EO 13548. The race and ethnicity categories in 
this form are consistent with the standards set by the Office of 
Management and Budget .\1\ The questions on disability and medical 
impairments are designed to allow federal agencies and the EEOC to 
determine the percentage of applicants to Federal jobs who might be 
considered ``individuals with disabilities'' under various approaches 
to defining the term. Among other things, the disability questions are 
designed to analyze the frequency with which people with ``targeted 
disabilities'' apply for positions with an agency, compare the 
percentage of applicants with functional disabilities to the percentage 
of working age people with such disabilities as recorded by the Census 
Bureau, and examine the number of applicants with medical impairments 
consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act and 
the Rehabilitation Act.
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    \1\ Office of Management and Budget. Revisions to the Standards 
for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity, 
Federal Register: 62: No.210, October 30. 1997, available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fedreg_1997standards/.
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    Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 
35, and OMB regulation 5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), the Commission solicits 
public comment on revising its form for use by federal agencies in 
gathering demographic information on applicants for federal employment. 
Comments are particularly invited on whether this collection of 
information will enable the Commission and federal agencies to:
    (1) Evaluate whether the proposed data collection tool will have 
practical utility by enabling a federal agency to determine whether 
recruitment activities are effectively reaching all segments of the 
relevant labor pool in compliance with the laws enforced by the 
Commission and whether the agency's selection procedures allow all 
applicants to compete on a level playing field regardless of race, 
national origin, sex or disability status;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed 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 
applicants for federal employees who choose 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 This Information Collection

    Collection Title: Demographic Information on Federal Job 
Applicants.
    OMB Control No.: 3046-0046 .
    Description of Affected Public: Individuals submitting applications 
for federal employment.
    Number of Annual Responses: 5,800.
    Estimated Time per Respondent: 3 minutes.
    Total Annual Burden Hours (5,800 x 3)/60 = 290.
    Annual Federal Cost: None.
    Abstract: Under section 717 of Title VII and 501 of the 
Rehabilitation Act, the Commission is charged with reviewing and 
approving federal agencies plans to affirmatively address potential 
discrimination before it occurs. Pursuant to such oversight 
responsibilities, the Commission has established systems to monitor 
compliance with Title VII and the Rehabilitation Act by requiring 
federal agencies to evaluate their employment practices through the 
collection and analysis of data on the race, national origin, sex and 
disability status of applicants for both permanent and temporary 
employment.
    Several federal agencies (or components of such agencies) have 
previously obtained separate OMB approval for the use of forms 
collecting data on the race, national origin, sex, and disability 
status of applicants. In order to avoid unnecessary duplication of 
effort and a proliferation of forms, the EEOC seeks approval for the 
use of a common form to be used by all federal agencies.
    Response by applicants is optional. The information obtained will 
be used by federal agencies only for evaluating whether an agency's 
recruitment activities are effectively reaching all segments of the 
relevant labor pool, to gauge progress and trends over time with 
respect to equal opportunity goals, and to track progress toward 
meeting the recruitment and hiring strategies developed pursuant to EO 
13548. The voluntary responses are treated in a highly confidential and 
anonymous manner, are not shared with those involved in the selection 
process or the supervisor (if the person is hired) and will not be 
placed in the employees' personnel file. The information is not 
provided to any panel rating the applications, to selecting officials, 
to anyone who can affect the application or to the public. Rather, the 
information is used in summary form to determine trends over many 
selections within a given occupational or organization area. No 
information from the form is entered into an official personnel file.
    Burden Statement: Because of the predominant use of online 
application systems, which require only pointing and clicking on the 
selected responses, and because the form requests only eight questions 
regarding basic information, the EEOC estimates that an applicant can 
complete the form in approximately 3 minutes or less. Based on past 
experience, we expect that 5,800

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applicants will choose to complete the form.
    Once OMB approves the use of this common form, federal agencies may 
request OMB approval to use this common form without having to publish 
notices and request public comments for 60 and 30 days. Each agency 
must account for the burden associated with their use of the common 
form.

    Dated: February 11, 2013.
    For the Commission.
Jacqueline A. Berrien,
Chair.
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[FR Doc. 2013-03528 Filed 2-14-13; 8:45 am]
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