[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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