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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 235 (Friday, December 6, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 96963-96965]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-28580]

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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 State 
and Local Government Information Report (EEO-4).

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SUMMARY: 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 State and Local Government Information Report (EEO-4).

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 www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. 
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 [email protected]. 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 September 4, 
2024, allowing for a 60-day public comment period which ended on 
November 4, 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 71901 (Sept. 4, 
2024) at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/09/04/2024-19743/agency-information-collection-activities-existing-collection.
    \2\ Available at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EEOC-2024-0008.
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I. Background

A. The EEO-4 Report

    Since 1973, the EEOC has required EEO-4 filers to submit workforce 
demographic data. All State and local governments 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-4

    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 September 4, 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-4. 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 November 4, 2024.
    Based on data from the most recent EEO-4 data collection reporting 
year (i.e., 2023), as well as ongoing updates by the EEOC to the EEO-4 
frame (i.e., filer roster or master list), the EEOC anticipates the 
total number of filers submitting an EEO-4 report may increase to 6,607 
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 
September 4, 2024.\4\ The EEOC received no comments during the public 
comment period.\5\
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    \4\ Available at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2024/09/04/2024-19743/agency-information-collection-activities-existing-collection.
    \5\ Available at https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EEOC-2024-0008.
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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-4 State and Local Government Information Report

    The Commission has decided it will seek a three-year approval by 
OMB of revisions to the EEO-4 State and Local Government Information 
Report as described in this Notice.

IV. Formal Paperwork Reduction Act Statement

A. Overview of Information Collection

    Collection Title: State and Local Government Information Report 
(EEO-4).
    OMB Number: 3046-0008.
    Frequency of Report: Biennial.
    Type of Respondent: State and local governments that have 100 or 
more employees and meet certain criteria.
    Description of Affected Public: State and local governments that 
have 100 or more employees and meet certain criteria.
    Reporting Hours: 18,094 hours per biennial collection.
    Respondent Burden Hour Cost: $563,868.27 per biennial collection.
    Federal Cost: $327,440.12 per biennial collection.
    Number of Filers: 6,607 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-4 data collection (the 2023 EEO-4 data collection).
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    Number of Responses: 6,607 per biennial collection.
    Number of Forms: 1.
    Form Number: EEOC Form 164.
    Abstract: Section 709(c) of title VII requires employers to make 
and keep

[[Page 96964]]

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 State and local governments.\8\ The regulations 
require State and local governments to make or keep all records 
necessary for completion of an EEO-4 submission and retain those 
records for three years, and also require EEO-4 filers to retain a copy 
of each filed EEO-4 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 State and local governments to file executed copies of the EEO-
4 in conformity with the directions set forth in the form and 
accompanying instructions. Under this authority, State and local 
governments with 100 or more employees are required to report 
biennially \9\ the number of individuals they employ by job category 
and by sex, salary band, and race or ethnicity.
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    \7\ 42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(c).
    \8\ The regulatory sections covered by this notice are 29 CFR 
1602.30 and 1602.32 through 1602.37. The EEOC is responsible for 
obtaining OMB's PRA approval for the EEO-4 report.
    \9\ Beginning in 1993, the EEO-4 report has been collected 
biennially in odd-numbered years. Prior to 1993, the EEO-4 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 https://spd15revision.gov/. 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-4 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.
    The EEOC currently collects EEO-4 data electronically through a 
web-based data collection application (i.e., portal) referred to as the 
EEO-4 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-4 reports are 
confidential.\11\ The EEOC uses EEO-4 data to investigate charges of 
employment discrimination against State and local governments and to 
publish periodic reports on workforce demographics.\12\
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    \10\ EEO-4 filers may access the OFS through the EEOC's 
dedicated EEO-4 website at www.eeocdata.org/eeo4.
    \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-
4 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-4 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-4 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-4 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-4. 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 existing EEO-4 data frame of 
potentially eligible filers and make the EEO-4 filing process more 
user-friendly and less burdensome. By comparing the EEOC's 2023 EEO-4 
frame to the U.S. Census Bureau's Census of Governments,\13\ OEDA 
identified approximately 1,220 additional State and local governments 
that may be eligible to file during the next biennial data collection. 
With the addition of these filers to the EEO-4 frame and considering 
response rates during the 2023 EEO-4 data collection, OEDA now 
estimates 6,607 potential respondents to the agency's next EEO-4 data 
collection.\14\
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    \13\ The Census of Governments is a three-phased program that 
collects State and local government data every five years in years 
ending in ``2'' and ``7.'' See https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2023/census-of-governments.html.
    \14\ This estimate covers State and local governments with 100 
or more employees within the 50 United States and the District of 
Columbia. Please note that 6,607 respondents may ultimately turn out 
to be an overestimate. Following the initial enhancement of the EEO-
4 frame, collection data may yield an unknown number of ineligible 
filers.
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    Additionally, the EEOC proposes to update the salary bands in the 
next biennial EEO-4 data collection to keep pace with inflation and 
account for an increasing portion of employees falling into the highest 
salary bands. The EEOC reviewed several other Federal data collections 
of salaries and wages and determined that the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) \15\ 
program most closely aligns with the EEO-4. Therefore, the EEOC 
proposes adopting the OEWS salary bands and will periodically update 
them as appropriate. The EEOC recognizes there may be a one-time 
increase in burden as filers need to update their systems to produce 
reports in the new categories, but this increase is expected to be 
negligible. The proposed pay bands for the next biennial EEO-4 data 
collection are listed in the table below.
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    \15\ The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) 
program produces employment and wage estimates annually for 
approximately 830 occupations. See https://www.bls.gov/oes/.

[[Page 96965]]

                 Table 1--Updated Salary Bands for EEO-4
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                                                   Wages
            Interval             ---------------------------------------
                                        Annual              Hourly
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Range A.........................  Under $19,240.....  Under $9.25.
Range B.........................  19,240 to 24,959..  9.25 to 11.99.
Range C.........................  24,960 to 32,239..  12.00 to 15.49.
Range D.........................  32,240 to 41,079..  15.50 to 19.74.
Range E.........................  41,080 to 53,039..  19.75 to 25.49.
Range F.........................  53,040 to 68,119..  25.50 to 32.74.
Range G.........................  68,120 to 87,359..  32.75 to 41.99.
Range H.........................  87,360 to 112,319.  42.00 to 53.99.
Range I.........................  112,320 to 144,559  54.00 to 69.49.
Range J.........................  144,560 to 186,159  69.50 to 89.49.
Range K.........................  186,160 to 239,199  89.50 to 114.99.
Range L.........................  239,200 and over..  115.00 and over.
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    The EEOC has also updated its methodology for calculating the 
biennial burden of the EEO-4 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 2023 EEO-4 data 
collection by individuals completing the report within the EEO-4 OFS, 
the EEOC has identified six specific job categories which account for 
the largest amount of time spent biennially on EEO-4 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.\16\
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    \16\ 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 https://www.bls.gov/ooh/. Please note that the actual job titles reported 
during the 2023 EEO-4 data collection were collapsed into these six 
BLS occupational categories.
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    Additionally, the EEO-4 OFS captures detailed information on when 
each filer starts and certifies its report. The EEOC used this 
information from the most recent EEO-4 data collection to calculate 
more precise burden hour estimates.\17\ In Table 2 below, the estimated 
average hour burden per report is 2.7 hours. The total estimated 
biennial respondent burden for all filers is 18,094 hours. The 
estimated average burden hour cost per report is $85.34, and the 
estimated total burden hour cost for all filers per biennial collection 
is $563,868.27.
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    \17\ The time estimates are based on the average time elapsed 
among filers who completed their report during the same calendar day 
within the EEO-4 OFS. This methodology was chosen because a single-
session submission would also approximate the completion time over 
several, multi-day sessions.

                                            Table 2--Projected Burden for Each EEO-4 Biennial Reporting Year
                                                                        [N=6,607]
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                                                          Percent in job   Median hourly     Hours per     Total burden                    Total burden
                   Staff job category                        category        wage rate         filer           hours      Cost per filer     hour cost
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Human Resource Specialists..............................            68.0          $30.88             2.8          12,575          $86.46     $388,309.82
Executive-Level Staff...................................             4.1           48.12             2.6             710          125.11       34,155.58
Secretaries and Administrative Assistants...............             8.1           21.19             2.4           1,289           50.86      827,309.67
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks............             8.8           22.05             2.5           1,450           55.13       31,972.50
Administrative Services and Facilities Managers.........             4.5           48.98             3.4           1,003          166.53       49,126.94
Database Administrators and Architects..................             0.1           53.91             0.5               3           26.96          134.78
Other \a\...............................................             6.3           30.86             2.5           1,065           77.14       32,858.98
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    Average.............................................  ..............  ..............             2.7  ..............           85.34  ..............
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    Total \b\...........................................           100.0  ..............  ..............          18,094  ..............      563,868.27
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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-4 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 the EEO-4 report.

    Dated: December 2, 2024.

    For the Commission.
Charlotte A. Burrows,
Chair.
[FR Doc. 2024-28580 Filed 12-5-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6570-01-P
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