Notice2024-28581
Agency Information Collection Activities: Existing Collection
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 6, 2024
Issuing agencies
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Abstract
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) announces that it has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for a three-year PRA approval of revisions to the currently approved Elementary-Secondary Staff Information Report (EEO-5).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 235 (Friday, December 6, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 96965-96968]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28581]
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EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION
Agency Information Collection Activities: Existing Collection
AGENCY: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
ACTION: Notice of information collection--proposed revision of
Elementary-Secondary Staff Information Report (EEO-5).
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), the
Equal Employment Opportunity
[[Page 96966]]
Commission (EEOC or Commission) announces that it has submitted to the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request for a three-year PRA
approval of revisions to the currently approved Elementary-Secondary
Staff Information Report (EEO-5).
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before
January 6, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent within 30 days of
publication of this final notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>.
Find this information collection by selecting ``Currently under
Review--Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Guerino, Director, Data
Development and Information Products Division, Office of Enterprise
Data and Analytics (OEDA), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 131
M Street NE, Washington, DC 20507; (202) 921-2928 (voice), (800) 669-
6820 (TTY) or email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fcb3b9b8bdbc9999939fd29b938a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="bff0fafbfeffdadad0dc91d8d0c9">[email protected]</span></a>. Requests for this notice in an
alternative format should be made to the EEOC's Office of
Communications and Legislative Affairs at (202) 921-3191 (voice), (800)
669-6820 (TTY), or (844) 234-5122 (ASL Video Phone).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: A notice that the EEOC would be submitting
this request was published in the Federal Register on August 16, 2024,
allowing for a 60-day public comment period which ended on October 15,
2024.\1\ The EEOC received no comments during the public comment
period.\2\
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\1\ See Notice of Information Collection 89 FR 66716 August 16,
2024) at <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/16/2024-18421/agency-information-collection-activities-existing-collection">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/16/2024-18421/agency-information-collection-activities-existing-collection</a>.
\2\ Available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EEOC-2024-0007">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EEOC-2024-0007</a>.
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I. Background
A. The EEO-5 Report
Since 1973, the EEOC has required EEO-5 filers to submit workforce
demographic data. All public elementary and secondary school systems
and districts that are covered by title VII of the Civil Rights Act of
1964, as amended (title VII) \3\ and that have 100 or more employees
are required to file the workforce demographic data.
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\3\ 42 U.S.C. 2000e, et seq.
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B. The 60-Day Notice: Request for Three-Year PRA Approval of Revisions
to the EEO-5
Pursuant to the PRA and OMB regulations found at 5 CFR
1320.8(d)(1), the Commission published a Notice in the Federal Register
on August 16, 2024, soliciting public comments during a 60-day period
(``60-day Notice'') on the Commission's intent to seek a three-year OMB
approval of revisions to the currently approved EEO-5. In particular,
in its 60-day Notice, the EEOC sought comments to: (1) Evaluate whether
the proposed 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 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 those who are to respond, including 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 60-day Notice
comment period ended on October 15, 2024.
Based on data from the most recent EEO-5 data collection reporting
year (i.e., 2022), as well as ongoing updates by the EEOC to the EEO-5
frame (i.e., filer roster or master list), the EEOC anticipates the
total number of filers submitting an EEO-5 report may increase to
10,500 per biennial collection. Accordingly, the burden estimates in
this Notice are based on this revised estimate of the number of filers.
II. The Public Comments on the 60-Day Notice
The 60-day Notice was published in the Federal Register on August
16, 2024.\4\ The EEOC received no comments during the public comment
period.\5\
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\4\ Available at <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/16/2024-18421/agency-information-collection-activities-existing-collection">https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/08/16/2024-18421/agency-information-collection-activities-existing-collection</a>.
\5\ Available at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EEOC-2024-0007">https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EEOC-2024-0007</a>.
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III. Commission Decisions and Final EEOC Proposals to OMB
The EEOC Will Seek Three-Year Approval of Revisions to the
Currently Approved EEO-5 Elementary-Secondary Staff Information Report
The Commission has decided it will seek a three-year approval by
OMB of revisions to the EEO-5 Elementary-Secondary Staff Information
Report as described in this Notice.
IV. Formal Paperwork Reduction Act Statement
A. Overview of Information Collection
Collection Title: Elementary-Secondary Staff Information Report
(EEO-5).
OMB Number: 3046-0003.
Frequency of Report: Biennial.
Type of Respondent: Public elementary and secondary school systems
and districts that have 100 or more employees and meet certain
criteria.
Description of Affected Public: Public elementary and secondary
school systems and districts that have 100 or more employees and meet
certain criteria.
Reporting Hours: 17,927 hours per biennial collection.
Respondent Burden Hour Cost: $597,472.29 per biennial collection.
Federal Cost: $492,635 per biennial collection.
Number of Filers: 10,500 per biennial collection.\6\
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\6\ This figure is based on the expanded frame of potentially
eligible respondents and the response rate for the most recently
completed EEO-5 data collection (the 2022 EEO-5 data collection).
\7\ 42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(c).
\8\ The EEOC's EEO-5 regulation is at 29 CFR part 1602 Subparts
L and M. The EEOC is responsible for obtaining OMB's PRA approval
for the EEO-5 report.
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Number of Responses: 10,500 per biennial collection.
Number of Forms: 1.
Form Number: EEOC Form 168A.
Abstract: Section 709(c) of title VII requires employers to make
and keep records relevant to the determination of whether unlawful
employment practices have been or are being committed, to preserve such
records, and to produce reports as the Commission prescribes by
regulation or order.\7\ Pursuant to this statutory authority, the EEOC
issued regulations prescribing the reporting and related record
retention requirements for public elementary and secondary school
systems and districts.\8\ The regulations require school systems or
districts to make or keep all records necessary for completion of an
EEO-5 submission and retain those records for three years, and require
EEO-5 filers to retain a copy of each filed EEO-5 report for three
years. These recordkeeping requirements are part of standard
administrative practices, and as a result, the EEOC believes that any
impact on burden would be negligible and nearly impossible to quantify.
Additionally, the regulations require public elementary and secondary
school systems and districts to file executed copies of the EEO-5 in
conformity with
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the directions set forth in the form and accompanying instructions.
Under this authority, public elementary and secondary school systems
and districts with 100 or more employees are required to report
biennially \9\ the number of individuals they employ by activity
assignment classification (i.e., job category) and by sex and race or
ethnicity.
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\9\ Beginning in 1982, the EEO-5 report has been collected
biennially in even-numbered years. Prior to 1982, the EEO-5 report
was collected annually.
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Please note that on March 28, 2024, OMB published revisions, the
first since 1997, to its Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards
for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and
Ethnicity.'' See <a href="https://spd15revision.gov/">https://spd15revision.gov/</a>. The revisions include, for
example, using a single combined race and ethnicity question and adding
Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) as a new minimum reporting
category. Federal agencies, including the EEOC, are required to bring
their data collections into compliance with these standards by March
28, 2029. Because the EEOC's current EEO-5 PRA clearance expires
January 31, 2025, the agency is not proposing updates to its collection
of race and ethnicity data under this Notice in order to provide filers
with sufficient notice of the revised standards and to give the EEOC
sufficient time to implement the revisions across its EEO collections.
These data are currently collected electronically by the EEOC
through a web-based data collection application (i.e., portal) referred
to as the EEO-5 Online Filing System (OFS).\10\ Filers must submit
their data electronically to the web-based portal by either manual
entry or by uploading a data file. The individual EEO-5 reports are
confidential.\11\ EEO-5 data are used by the EEOC to investigate
charges of employment discrimination against public elementary and
secondary school systems and districts and to publish periodic reports
on workforce demographics.\12\
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\10\ EEO-5 filers may access the EEO-5 Online Filing System
(OFS) through the EEOC's dedicated EEO-5 website at
<a href="http://www.eeocdata.org/eeo5">www.eeocdata.org/eeo5</a>.
\11\ All reports and any information from individual reports are
subject to the confidentiality provisions of Section 709(e) of title
VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(e), as
amended (title VII) and may not be made public by the EEOC prior to
the institution of any proceeding under title VII involving the EEO-
5 data. Any EEOC employee who violates this prohibition may be found
guilty of a criminal misdemeanor and could be fined or imprisoned.
The confidentiality requirements allow the EEOC to publish only
aggregated data, and only in a manner that does not identify any
particular filer or reveal any individual employee's personal
information. With respect to other Federal agencies with a
legitimate law enforcement purpose, the EEOC gives access to
information collected under title VII only if the agencies agree in
writing to comply with the confidentiality provisions of title VII.
In addition, section 709(d) of title VII (42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(d))
provides that the EEOC shall furnish upon request and without cost
to State or local civil rights agencies information about employers
in their jurisdiction on the condition that they not make it public
prior to starting a proceeding under State or local law involving
such information. The EEOC shares EEO-5 data with Fair Employment
Practices Agencies (FEPAs) pursuant to Worksharing Agreements that
impose obligations on the contracted FEPA with respect to
confidentiality, privacy, and data security. On a case-by-case
basis, the EEOC may share EEO-5 data with a FEPA that does not have
a Worksharing Agreement, but only if that FEPA agrees to comply with
confidentiality, privacy, and data security obligations similar to
those imposed on FEPAs with Worksharing Agreements.
\12\ Any reports the EEOC publishes based on EEO-5 data include
only aggregated data that protect the confidentiality of each
employer's information, as well as the privacy of each employee's
personal information.
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B. Burden Statement
The EEOC's Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics (OEDA)
administers the agency's data collections, including the EEO-5. Since
OEDA's creation in 2018, the EEOC has undertaken several efforts to
modernize the agency's data collections and improve the quality of data
collected. OEDA has also streamlined functions, such as providing
additional self-service options, resource materials, and an online
support message center.
As part of these ongoing modernization efforts, OEDA has undertaken
measures to enhance the agency's EEO-5 data frame of potentially
eligible filers as well as changes that make the EEO-5 filing process
more user-friendly and less burdensome. By comparing the EEOC's 2022
EEO-5 frame to the U.S. Department of Education's publicly available
Common Core of Data (CCD) database,\13\ OEDA identified approximately
4,000 additional public elementary and secondary school systems and
districts that may be eligible to file during the next biennial data
collection. With the addition of these filers to the EEO-5 frame and
considering response rates during the 2022 EEO-5 data collection, OEDA
now estimates 10,500 potential respondents (a 47% increase) to the
agency's next EEO-5 data collection.\14\
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\13\ According to the U.S. Department of Education, the CCD is
the department's primary database on public elementary and secondary
education in the United States. The CCD serves as a ``comprehensive,
annual, national database'' of all public elementary and secondary
schools and school districts. See <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/">https://nces.ed.gov/ccd/</a>.
\14\ This estimate covers public elementary and secondary school
systems or districts with 100 or more employees within the 50 United
States and the District of Columbia as well as the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Possessions of
American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and Wake Island.
Please note that 10,500 respondents may ultimately turn out to be an
overestimate. Following the initial enhancement of the EEO-5 frame,
collection data may yield an unknown number of ineligible filers.
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The EEOC has also updated its methodology for calculating the
biennial burden of the EEO-5 to better reflect the types of personnel
responsible for preparing and filing these reports on behalf of their
employers. Based upon job titles provided during the 2022 EEO-5 data
collection by individuals completing the report within the EEO-5 Online
Filing System (OFS), the EEOC has identified six specific job
categories which account for the largest amount of time spent
biennially on EEO-5 reporting. These job categories include: (1) Human
Resource Specialists; (2) Executive-Level Staff; (3) Secretaries and
Administrative Assistants; (4) Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing
Clerks; (5) Administrative Services and Facilities Managers; and (6)
Database Administrators and Architects.\15\
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\15\ Hourly wage rates for these six job categories were
obtained from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS) Occupational Outlook Handbook. See <a href="https://www.bls.gov/ooh/">https://www.bls.gov/ooh/</a>. Please note that the actual job titles reported
during the 2022 EEO-5 data collection were collapsed into these six
BLS occupational categories.
\16\ The time estimates are based on the average time elapsed
among filers who completed their reports during the same calendar
day within the EEO-5 OFS. This methodology was chosen because a
single-session submission would also approximate the completion time
over several, multi-day sessions.
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Additionally, the EEO-5 OFS captures detailed information on when
each filer starts and certifies its report. The EEOC used this
information from the most recent EEO-5 data collection to calculate
more precise burden hour estimates.\16\ In Table 1 below, the estimated
average hour burden per report is 1.7 hours. The total estimated
biennial respondent burden for all filers is 17,927 hours. The
estimated average burden hour cost per report is $56.90, and the
estimated total burden hour cost for all filers per biennial collection
is $597,472.29.
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Table 1--Projected Burden for Each EEO-5 Biennial Reporting Year
[N=10,500]
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Percent in job Median hourly Hours per Total burden Cost per Total burden
Staff job category category wage rate report hours report hour cost
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Human Resource Specialists.............................. 39.1 $30.88 1.9 7,807 $58.67 $241,078.65
Executive-Level Staff................................... 15.9 48.12 1.7 2,829 81.80 136,153.91
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants............... 14.1 21.19 1.8 2,674 38.14 56,659.49
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks............ 14.0 22.05 1.3 1,904 28.67 41,993.03
Administrative Services and Facilities Managers......... 7.7 48.98 1.4 1,137 68.57 55,707.84
Database Administrators and Architects.................. 3.0 53.91 1.3 414 70.08 22,301.40
Other \a\............................................... 6.1 37.52 1.8 1,161 67.54 43,577.97
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Average............................................. .............. .............. 1.7 .............. 56.90 ..............
Total \b\....................................... 100.0 .............. .............. 17,927 .............. 597,472.29
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\a\ The average hourly wage rate for the ``Other'' category was derived by taking the weighted mean average of the hourly wage rates of the six BLS job
categories listed in the above table.
\b\ These estimates are based upon filers' use of the EEO-5 Online Filing System (OFS) to submit reports electronically because paper submissions are no
longer accepted. Electronic filing remains the most efficient, accurate, and secure means of reporting for respondents required to submit EEO-5 data.
Dated: December 2, 2024.
For the Commission.
Charlotte A. Burrows,
Chair.
[FR Doc. 2024-28581 Filed 12-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6570-01-P
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