[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 128 (Wednesday, July 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55266-55267]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-14602]


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EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION


Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension Without 
Change of an Existing Collection; Comments Request

AGENCY: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) announces 
that it intends to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
a request for a three-year extension without change of the existing 
recordkeeping requirements under its regulations. The Commission is 
seeking public comment on the proposed extension.

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before 
September 3, 2024.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments by any of the following methods--
please use only one method:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions on the website for submitting comments.
    Mail: Comments may be submitted by mail to Raymond Windmiller, 
Executive Officer, Executive Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity 
Commission, 131 M Street NE, Washington, DC 20507.
    Fax: Comments totaling six or fewer pages may be sent by fax 
machine to (202) 663-4114. 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) 921-2815 
(voice), (800) 669-6820 (TTY), or (844) 234-5122 (ASL Video Phone).
    Instructions: All comments received will be posted without change 
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information you 
provide. However, the EEOC reserves the right to refrain from posting 
libelous or otherwise inappropriate comments, including those that 
contain obscene, indecent, or profane language; that contain threats or 
defamatory statements; that contain hate speech directed at race, 
color, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, or genetic 
information; or that promote or endorse services or products.
    Copies of the received comments will be available for review at the 
Commission's library, 131 M Street NE, Suite 4NW08R, Washington, DC 
20507, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on days the 
Commission is open for business. You must make an appointment with 
library staff.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathleen Oram, Assistant Legal 
Counsel, at (202) 921-3240 or [email protected]. Requests for this 
notice in an alternative format should be made to the Office of 
Communications and Legislative Affairs at (202) 921-3191 (voice), (800) 
669-6820 (TTY), or (844) 234-5122 (ASL Video Phone).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission 
enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), Title I 
of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and Title II of the 
Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), which 
collectively prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, 
religion, sex, national origin, disability, or genetic information. 
Section 709(c) of Title VII, section 107(a) of the ADA, and section 
207(a) of GINA authorize the EEOC to issue recordkeeping and reporting 
regulations that are deemed reasonable, necessary, or appropriate.\1\ 
The EEOC has promulgated recordkeeping regulations under those 
authorities that are contained in 29 CFR part 1602. These regulations 
do not require the creation of any particular records but generally 
require employers and labor organizations to preserve any personnel and 
employment records they make or keep for a period of one year or two 
years, and possibly longer if a charge of discrimination is filed.
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    \1\ While the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) also 
authorizes the EEOC to issue recordkeeping regulations, this notice 
announces the EEOC's intent to seek an extension of the existing 
recordkeeping requirements under Title VII, the ADA, and GINA. 
Recordkeeping requirements concerning the PWFA will be addressed 
separately.
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    Pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, and OMB regulation 
5 CFR 1320.8(d)(1), the Commission solicits public comment to enable it 
to:
    (1) Evaluate whether the collection of information is necessary for 
the proper performance of the Commission's functions, including whether 
the information will have practical utility;
    (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the Commission'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.
    The EEOC seeks an extension without change of OMB's clearance under 
the PRA of the recordkeeping requirements in 29 CFR part 1602.

Overview of Current Information Collection

    Collection Title: Recordkeeping Under Title VII, the ADA, and GINA.
    OMB Number: 3046-0040.
    Description of Affected Public: Employers and labor organizations 
subject to Title VII.
    Number of Respondents: 887,869.
    Number of Reports Submitted: 0.
    Estimated Burden Hours: 178,485.
    Burden Hour Cost: $5,806,101.
    Federal Cost: None.
    Number of Forms: None.
    Abstract: Section 709(c) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 
1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(c), section 107(a) of the ADA, 42 
U.S.C. 12117(a), and section 207(a) of GINA, 42 U.S.C. 2000ff-6(a), 
direct the Commission to establish regulations pursuant to which 
entities subject to those Acts shall make and preserve certain records 
to assist the EEOC in ensuring compliance with the Acts' prohibitions 
on employment discrimination. Accordingly, the EEOC issued regulations 
setting out recordkeeping requirements for private employers (29 CFR 
1602.14); employers, labor organizations, and joint labor-management 
committees that control apprenticeship programs (29 CFR 1602.21(b)); 
labor organizations (29 CFR 1602.28(a)); state and local governments 
(29 CFR 1602.31); elementary and secondary school systems or districts

[[Page 55267]]

(29 CFR 1602.40); and institutions of higher education (29 CFR 
1602.49(a)). Any of the records maintained which are subsequently 
disclosed to the EEOC during an investigation are protected from public 
disclosure by the confidentiality provisions of section 706(b) and 
709(e) of Title VII, which are also incorporated by reference into the 
ADA at section 107(a) and GINA at section 207(a).
    Burden Statement: The estimated number of respondents subject to 
this recordkeeping requirement is 887,869 entities, which combines 
estimates from private employment,\2\ the public sector,\3\ colleges 
and universities,\4\ apprenticeship programs,\5\ and referral 
unions.\6\ An entity subject to the recordkeeping requirement in 29 CFR 
part 1602 must retain all personnel or employment records, records 
relating to apprenticeship, or union membership or referral records 
made or kept by that entity for one year (private employers and 
referral unions) or two years (public sector, colleges and 
universities, apprenticeship programs), and must retain any records 
relevant to charges of discrimination filed under Title VII, the ADA, 
or GINA until final disposition of those matters, which may be longer 
than one or two years. This recordkeeping requirement does not require 
reports or the creation of new records, but merely requires retention 
of records that an entity has already made or kept in the normal course 
of its business operations. Thus, existing employers and labor 
organizations bear no burden under this analysis because their systems 
for retaining these types of records are already in place.
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    \2\ Source of original data: 2021 Economic Census (https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2021/econ/susb/2021-susb-annual.html). 
Local Downloadable CSV data. Select U.S. & states, 6 digit NAICS. 
The original number of employers was adjusted to include only those 
with 15 or more employees.
    \3\ Source of original data: 2022 Census of Governments: 
Employment. Individual Government Data File (https://www.census.gov/data/datasets/2022/econ/apes/2022.html), Local Downloadable Data zip 
file ``Individual Unit Files.'' The original number of government 
entities was adjusted to include only those with 15 or more 
employees.
    \4\ Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for 
Education Statistics, IPEDS, Fall 2022, Institutional 
Characteristics component (provisional data). See Table 1, ``Number 
and percentage distribution of Title IV institutions, by control of 
institution, level of institution, and region: United States and 
other U.S. jurisdictions, academic year 2022-23'' (https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/search/viewtable?tableId=35945&returnUrl=%2Fsearch).
    \5\ Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Registered Apprenticeship 
National Results Fiscal Year 2021, Number of active apprenticeship 
programs in 2021 (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/apprenticeship/about/statistics/2021).
    \6\ The EEOC has undertaken measures to enhance the agency's 
existing EEO-3 data frame (i.e., roster) of potentially eligible 
filers that was most recently used during the 2022 EEO-3 data 
collection. The number of referral unions was estimated by comparing 
the EEOC's 2022 EEO-3 frame to a list of active unions from the U.S. 
Department of Labor's Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) 
Online Public Disclosure Room (OPDR) database (https://olmsapps.dol.gov/olpdr/).
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    Newly formed entities may incur a small burden when setting up 
their data collection and retention systems to ensure compliance with 
EEOC's recordkeeping requirements. We assume some effort and time must 
be expended by new employers or labor organizations to familiarize 
themselves with the Title VII, ADA, and GINA recordkeeping requirements 
and explain those requirements to the appropriate staff. We estimate 
that 30 minutes would be needed for this one-time familiarization 
process. Using projected business formation estimates from the U.S. 
Census Bureau for 2023 and the number of new apprenticeship programs 
established in 2021 provided by the Department of Labor, we estimate 
that there are 356,969 entities that would incur this start-up 
burden.\7\ Assuming a 30-minute burden per entity, the total annual 
hour burden is 178,485 hours (.5 hour x 356,969 new entities = 178,485 
hours). The estimated associated burden hour cost to respondents is 
$5,806,101, or around $16.27 per new entity.\8\
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    \7\ Sources: Business Formation Statistics from the U.S. Census 
Bureau (https://www.census.gov/econ/bfs/index.html); Total projected 
business formation statistics (series BF_PBF4Q) for 2023, across all 
industries, for the U.S., not seasonally adjusted; U.S. Department 
of Labor, New Apprenticeship programs for 2021 (https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/apprenticeship/about/statistics/2021).
    \8\ Burden hour cost estimates are based on the median hourly 
wage rate of $32.53 for Human Resources Specialists obtained from 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2024 (see U.S. Department of 
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/).

    For the Commission.
Charlotte A. Burrows,
Chair.
[FR Doc. 2024-14602 Filed 7-2-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6570-01-P