[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 47, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 47CFR73.2080]

[Page 329-333]
 
                       TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION
 
                         COMMISSION (CONTINUED)
 
PART 73_RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
          Subpart H_Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations
 
Sec.  73.2080  Equal employment opportunities (EEO).

    (a) General EEO policy. Equal opportunity in employment shall be 
afforded by all licensees or permittees of commercially or 
noncommercially operated AM, FM, TV, Class A TV or international 
broadcast stations (as defined in this part) to all qualified persons, 
and no person shall be discriminated against in employment by such 
stations because of race, color, religion, national origin, or sex. 
Religious radio broadcasters may establish religious belief or 
affiliation as a job qualification for all station employees. However, 
they cannot discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin or 
gender from among those who share their religious affiliation or belief. 
For purposes of this rule, a religious broadcaster is a licensee which 
is, or is closely affiliated with, a church, synagogue, or other 
religious entity, including a subsidiary of such an entity.
    (b) General EEO program requirements. Each broadcast station shall 
establish, maintain, and carry out a positive continuing program of 
specific practices designed to ensure equal opportunity and 
nondiscrimination in every aspect of station employment policy and 
practice. Under the terms of its program, a station shall:
    (1) Define the responsibility of each level of management to ensure 
vigorous enforcement of its policy of equal opportunity, and establish a 
procedure to review and control managerial and supervisory performance;
    (2) Inform its employees and recognized employee organizations of 
the equal employment opportunity policy and program and enlist their 
cooperation;
    (3) Communicate its equal employment opportunity policy and program 
and its employment needs to sources of qualified applicants without 
regard to race, color, religion, national origin, or sex, and solicit 
their recruitment assistance on a continuing basis;
    (4) Conduct a continuing program to exclude all unlawful forms of 
prejudice or discrimination based upon race, color, religion, national 
origin, or sex from its personnel policies and practices and working 
conditions; and
    (5) Conduct a continuing review of job structure and employment 
practices and adopt positive recruitment, job design, and other measures 
needed to ensure genuine equality of opportunity to participate fully in 
all organizational units, occupations, and levels of responsibility.
    (c) Specific EEO program requirements. Under the terms of its 
program, a station employment unit must:
    (1) Recruit for every full-time job vacancy in its operation. A job 
filled by an internal promotion is not considered a vacancy for which 
recruitment is necessary. Religious radio broadcasters who establish 
religious affiliation as a qualification for a job position are not 
required to comply with these recruitment requirements with respect to 
that job position or positions, but will be expected to make reasonable, 
good faith efforts to recruit applicants who are qualified based on 
their religious affiliation. Nothing in

[[Page 330]]

this section shall be interpreted to require a broadcaster to grant 
preferential treatment to any individual or group based on race, color, 
national origin, religion, or gender.
    (i) A station employment unit shall use recruitment sources for each 
vacancy sufficient in its reasonable, good faith judgment to widely 
disseminate information concerning the vacancy.
    (ii) In addition to such recruitment sources, a station employment 
unit shall provide notification of each full-time vacancy to any 
organization that distributes information about employment opportunities 
to job seekers or refers job seekers to employers, upon request by such 
organization. To be entitled to notice of vacancies, the requesting 
organization must provide the station employment unit with its name, 
mailing address, e-mail address (if applicable), telephone number, and 
contact person, and identify the category or categories of vacancies of 
which it requests notice. (An organization may request notice of all 
vacancies).
    (2) Engage in at least four (if the station employment unit has more 
than ten full-time employees and is not located in a smaller market) or 
two (if it has five to ten full-time employees and/or is located 
entirely in a smaller market) of the following initiatives during each 
two-year period beginning with the date stations in the station 
employment unit are required to file renewal applications, or the 
second, fourth or sixth anniversaries of that date.
    (i) Participation in at least four job fairs by station personnel 
who have substantial responsibility in the making of hiring decisions;
    (ii) Hosting of at least one job fair;
    (iii) Co-sponsoring at least one job fair with organizations in the 
business and professional community whose membership includes 
substantial participation of women and minorities;
    (iv) Participation in at least four events sponsored by 
organizations representing groups present in the community interested in 
broadcast employment issues, including conventions, career days, 
workshops, and similar activities;
    (v) Establishment of an internship program designed to assist 
members of the community to acquire skills needed for broadcast 
employment;
    (vi) Participation in job banks, Internet programs, and other 
programs designed to promote outreach generally (i.e., that are not 
primarily directed to providing notification of specific job vacancies);
    (vii) Participation in scholarship programs designed to assist 
students interested in pursuing a career in broadcasting;
    (viii) Establishment of training programs designed to enable station 
personnel to acquire skills that could qualify them for higher level 
positions;
    (ix) Establishment of a mentoring program for station personnel;
    (x) Participation in at least four events or programs sponsored by 
educational institutions relating to career opportunities in 
broadcasting;
    (xi) Sponsorship of at least two events in the community designed to 
inform and educate members of the public as to employment opportunities 
in broadcasting;
    (xii) Listing of each upper-level category opening in a job bank or 
newsletter of media trade groups whose membership includes substantial 
participation of women and minorities;
    (xiii) Provision of assistance to unaffiliated non-profit entities 
in the maintenance of web sites that provide counseling on the process 
of searching for broadcast employment and/or other career development 
assistance pertinent to broadcasting;
    (xiv) Provision of training to management level personnel as to 
methods of ensuring equal employment opportunity and preventing 
discrimination;
    (xv) Provision of training to personnel of unaffiliated non-profit 
organizations interested in broadcast employment opportunities that 
would enable them to better refer job candidates for broadcast 
positions;
    (xvi) Participation in other activities designed by the station 
employment unit reasonably calculated to further the goal of 
disseminating information as to employment opportunities in broadcasting 
to job candidates who might otherwise be unaware of such opportunities.

[[Page 331]]

    (3) Analyze its recruitment program on an ongoing basis to ensure 
that it is effective in achieving broad outreach to potential 
applicants, and address any problems found as a result of its analysis.
    (4) Periodically analyze measures taken to:
    (i) Disseminate the station's equal employment opportunity program 
to job applicants and employees;
    (ii) Review seniority practices to ensure that such practices are 
nondiscriminatory;
    (iii) Examine rates of pay and fringe benefits for employees having 
the same duties, and eliminate any inequities based upon race, national 
origin, color, religion, or sex discrimination;
    (iv) Utilize media for recruitment purposes in a manner that will 
contain no indication, either explicit or implicit, of a preference for 
one race, national origin, color, religion or sex over another;
    (v) Ensure that promotions to positions of greater responsibility 
are made in a nondiscriminatory manner;
    (vi) Where union agreements exist, cooperate with the union or 
unions in the development of programs to ensure all persons of equal 
opportunity for employment, irrespective of race, national origin, 
color, religion, or sex, and include an effective nondiscrimination 
clause in new or renegotiated union agreements; and
    (vii) Avoid the use of selection techniques or tests that have the 
effect of discriminating against any person based on race, national 
origin, color, religion, or sex.
    (5) Retain records to document that it has satisfied the 
requirements of paragraphs (c)(1) and (2) of this section. Such records, 
which may be maintained in an electronic format, shall be retained until 
after grant of the renewal application for the term during which the 
vacancy was filled or the initiative occurred. Such records need not be 
submitted to the FCC unless specifically requested. The following 
records shall be maintained:
    (i) Listings of all full-time job vacancies filled by the station 
employment unit, identified by job title;
    (ii) For each such vacancy, the recruitment sources utilized to fill 
the vacancy (including, if applicable, organizations entitled to 
notification pursuant to paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section, which 
should be separately identified), identified by name, address, contact 
person and telephone number;
    (iii) Dated copies of all advertisements, bulletins, letters, faxes, 
e-mails, or other communications announcing vacancies;
    (iv) Documentation necessary to demonstrate performance of the 
initiatives required by paragraph (c)(2) of this section, including 
sufficient information to fully disclose the nature of the initiative 
and the scope of the station's participation, including the station 
personnel involved;
    (v) The total number of interviewees for each vacancy and the 
referral source for each interviewee; and
    (vi) The date each vacancy was filled and the recruitment source 
that referred the hiree.
    (6) Annually, on the anniversary of the date a station is due to 
file its renewal application, the station shall place in its public 
file, maintained pursuant to Sec.  73.3526 or Sec.  73.3527, and on its 
web site, if it has one, an EEO public file report containing the 
following information (although if any broadcast licensee acquires a 
station pursuant to FCC Form 314 or FCC Form 315 during the twelve 
months covered by the EEO public file report, its EEO public file report 
shall cover the period starting with the date it acquired the station):
    (i) A list of all full-time vacancies filled by the station's 
employment unit during the preceding year, identified by job title;
    (ii) For each such vacancy, the recruitment source(s) utilized to 
fill the vacancy (including, if applicable, organizations entitled to 
notification pursuant to paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section, which 
should be separately identified), identified by name, address, contact 
person and telephone number;
    (iii) The recruitment source that referred the hiree for each full-
time vacancy during the preceding year;
    (iv) Data reflecting the total number of persons interviewed for 
full-time vacancies during the preceding year and

[[Page 332]]

the total number of interviewees referred by each recruitment source 
utilized in connection with such vacancies; and
    (v) A list and brief description of initiatives undertaken pursuant 
to paragraph (c)(2) of this section during the preceding year.
    (d) Small station exemption. The provisions of paragraphs (b) and 
(c) of this section shall not apply to station employment units that 
have fewer than five full-time employees.
    (e) Definitions. For the purposes of this rule:
    (1) A full-time employee is a permanent employee whose regular work 
schedule is 30 hours per week or more.
    (2) A station employment unit is a station or a group of commonly 
owned stations in the same market that share at least one employee.
    (3) A smaller market includes metropolitan areas as defined by the 
Office of Management and Budget with a population of fewer than 250,000 
persons and areas outside of all metropolitan areas as defined by the 
Office of Management and Budget.
    (f) Enforcement. The following provisions apply to employment 
activity concerning full-time positions at each broadcast station 
employment unit (defined in this part) employing five or more persons in 
full-time positions, except where noted.
    (1) All broadcast stations, including those that are part of an 
employment unit with fewer than five full-time employees, shall file a 
Broadcast Equal Employment Opportunity Program Report (Form 396) with 
their renewal application. Form 396 is filed on the date the station is 
due to file its application for renewal of license. If a broadcast 
licensee acquires a station pursuant to FCC Form 314 or FCC Form 315 
during the period that is to form the basis for the Form 396, 
information provided on its Form 396 should cover the licensee's EEO 
recruitment activity during the period starting with the date it 
acquired the station. Stations are required to maintain a copy of their 
Form 396 in the station's public file in accordance with the provisions 
of Sec. Sec.  73.3526 and 73.3527.
    (2) The Commission will conduct a mid-term review of the employment 
practices of each broadcast television station and each radio station 
that is part of an employment unit of more than ten full-time employees 
four years following the station's most recent license expiration date 
as specified in Sec.  73.1020. Each such licensee is required to file 
with the Commission the Broadcast Mid-Term Report (FCC Form 397) four 
months prior to that date. If a broadcast licensee acquires a station 
pursuant to FCC Form 314 or FCC Form 315 during the period that is to 
form the basis for the Form 397, its Report should cover the licensee's 
EEO recruitment activity during the period starting with the date it 
acquired the station.
    (3) If a station is subject to a time brokerage agreement, the 
licensee shall file Forms 396, Forms 397, and EEO public file reports 
concerning only its own recruitment activity. If a licensee is a broker 
of another station or stations, the licensee-broker shall include its 
recruitment activity for the brokered station(s) in determining the 
bases of Forms 396, Forms 397 and the EEO public file reports for its 
own station. If a licensee-broker owns more than one station, it shall 
include its recruitment activity for the brokered station in the Forms 
396, Forms 397, and EEO public file reports filed for its own station 
that is most closely affiliated with, and in the same market as, the 
brokered station. If a licensee-broker does not own a station in the 
same market as the brokered station, then it shall include its 
recruitment activity for the brokered station in the Forms 396, Forms 
397, and EEO public file reports filed for its own station that is 
geographically closest to the brokered station.
    (4) Broadcast stations subject to this section shall maintain 
records of their recruitment activity necessary to demonstrate that they 
are in compliance with the EEO rule. Stations shall ensure that they 
maintain records sufficient to verify the accuracy of information 
provided in Forms 396, Forms 397, and EEO public file reports. To 
determine compliance with the EEO rule, the Commission may conduct 
inquiries of licensees at random or if it has evidence of a possible 
violation of the EEO rule. In addition, the Commission

[[Page 333]]

will conduct random audits. Specifically, each year approximately five 
percent of all licensees in the television and radio services will be 
randomly selected for audit, ensuring that, even though the number of 
radio licensees is significantly larger than television licensees, both 
services are represented in the audit process. Upon request, stations 
shall make records available to the Commission for its review.
    (5) The public may file complaints throughout the license term based 
on a station's Form 397 or the contents of a station's public file. 
Provisions concerning filing, withdrawing, or non-filing of informal 
objections or petitions to deny license renewal, assignment, or transfer 
applications are delineated in Sec. Sec.  73.3584 and 73.3587-3589 of 
the Commission's rules.
    (g) Sanctions and remedies. The Commission may issue appropriate 
sanctions and remedies for any violation of this rule.

[68 FR 689, Jan. 7, 2003]