FCC Releases First EEO Audit Of 2022
The FCC has released another of its regular EEO audit notices, this time targeting more than 250 radio and TV stations. Those stations, and the station employment units (commonly owned stations serving the same area) with which they are associated, must provide to the FCC (by posting the information in their online public inspection file) their last two year’s EEO Annual Public File reports, as well as backing data to show that the station in fact did everything that was required under the FCC rules.
FCC EEO Outreach Enforcement Still In Effect
Stations are required to undertake a variety of activities to educate the public about broadcast employment opportunities and to train their employees to advance in their careers beyond their current positions. These outreach efforts must be undertaken even when stations don’t have job openings. The commission has not said that these obligations are suspended during the pandemic. In fact, it has been conducting EEO audits throughout the course of the pandemic
Questions On FCC’s Online Recruiting Change
The FCC recently issued a declaratory ruling addressing the requirement that broadcasters widely disseminate information about all of their job openings in such a way as to reach all of the groups within their communities. The Indiana Broadcasters Association recently asked five questions about that new decision to highlight some of the other obligations that still arise under the FCC’s EEO rules. Here is that discussion of the continuing obligations under the EEO rules.
FCC: Online Can Satisfy EEO Requirements
The FCC on Friday released a declaratory ruling making it significantly easier for broadcasters and MVPDs to meet their EEO obligations imposed by FCC rules. These rules for broadcasters and MVPDs requires that these businesses, when filling job openings, widely disseminate information about the openings in a manner that is expected to reach members of all community groups in the area from which employees are likely to be found.
FCC Sends EEO Audit Letters To Stations
It’s a new year, and the FCC is starting with a new round of EEO audits. Letters to more than 280 affected radio and TV stations went out late last week, and the FCC’s Public Notice of the audit, listing all of the affected stations, has just been released. The commission has pledged to audit 5% of all broadcast stations and cable systems each year to assure their compliance with the commission’s EEO rules – requiring wide dissemination of information about job openings and non-vacancy specific supplemental efforts to educate their communities about job opportunities in the media industry.
FCC Reduces Station EEO Filing Burden
The FCC has revised its Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) audit letter for all broadcast licensees, and has eased the burden on respondents by eliminating the need to produce copies of each and every job vacancy notice that was sent out to every referral source, allowing stations instead to file only a representative copy of each job opening notice along with a list of the referral sources to which it was sent.
