[Federal Register: March 25, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 57)] [Notices] [Page 14446-14447] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr25mr99-67] ======================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION Agency Information Collection Activities: Extension of Existing Collection; Comment Request AGENCY: Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. ACTION: Notice of information collection under review; recordkeeping requirements under the uniform guidelines on employee selection procedures. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC or Commission) announces that it intends to submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to extend without change the existing collection of information listed below. The Commission is seeking public comments on the proposed extension. DATES: Written comments on this notice must be submitted on or before May 24, 1999. ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted to Frances M. Hart, Executive Officer, Executive Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 10th Floor, 1801 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20507. As a convenience to commentators, the Executive Secretariat will accept comments transmitted by facsimile (``FAX'') machine. The telephone number of the FAX receiver is (202) 663-4114. (This is not a toll free number.) Only comments of six or fewer pages will be accepted via FAX transmittal. This limitation is necessary to assure access to the equipment. 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) 663-4078 (voice) or (202) 663-4074 (TDD). (These are not toll-free numbers.) Copies of comments submitted by the public will be available for review at the Commission's library, Room 6502, 1801 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joachim Neckere, Director, Program Research and Surveys Division, 1801 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20507, (202) 663-4958 (voice) or (202) 663-7063 (TDD). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Commission solicits public comment to enable it to: (1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary [[Page 14447]] 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. Overview of This Information Collection Collection Title: Recordkeeping Requirements of the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures, 29 CFR part 1607. Form Number: None. Frequency of Report: None required. Type of Respondent: Businesses or other institutions, state or local governments, and farms. Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code: Multiple. Description of Affected Public: Any employer, labor organization, or employment agency covered by the federal equal employment opportunity laws. Responses: 666,000. Reporting Hours: 1,450,000. Number of Forms: None. Abstract: The records required to be maintained by 29 CFR 1607.4 and 1607.15 are used by respondents to assure that they are complying with Title VII; by the Commission in investigating, conciliating, and litigating charges of employment discrimination; and by complainants in establishing violations of federal equal employment opportunity laws. Burden Statement: There are no reporting requirements associated with UGESP. Thus the only paperwork burden derives from the required recordkeeping. There are a total of 666,000 employers who have 15 or more employees and that are, therefore, subject to the recordkeeping requirement. Prior to the imposition of the UGESP recordkeeping requirement, the Commission proposed to conduct a practical utility survey to obtain estimates of burden hours. The intended survey was not approved by OMB, however, and the Commission relied instead on data obtained from the Business Roundtable study on ``Cost of Government Regulation'' conducted by the Arthur Anderson Company. In its initial estimate of recordkeeping burden the Commission relied on data from that study to derive the estimate of 1.91 million hours. In a subsequent submission to OMB for clearance of the UGESP collection, the Commission made an adjustment to reflect the increase in the incidence of computerized recordkeeping that had resulted in a reduction of total burden hours of approximately 300,000, and had brought the total burden down to 1.6 million hours. In the calculation of the initial burden of UGESP compliance, the estimated number of employees covered by the guidelines was 71.1 million. Average cost per employee was taken to be $1.79. Since most of this cost, however, was for employers' administrative functions and represented the time spent in reviewing their selection processes for `adverse impact' and in reviewing and validating their testing procedures, the actual recordkeeping function was estimated to be in the range of 10 to 15 percent of the total per-employee cost, or between $.179 and $.2685 per employee. The Commission used these per- employee costs, even though it believed that they were an over- estimate. In the initial estimate the Commission used the higher end of the range. Subsequently in 1996, the Commission modified its burden estimate. It recognized the midpoint of the range or $.22 per employee as a better estimate of per-employee cost. The number of employees had also grown by 15 million since the initial estimate, increasing the number of employees covered to 86 million. Finally, from the private employer survey the Commission has been conducting for 30 years (the EEO-1), it knew that 29.7 percent of the private employers file their employment reports on magnetic tapes, on diskettes, or on computer printouts. Thus, at a minimum, that proportion of employers had computerized recordkeeping. From the same survey the Commission also learned that when records are computerized, the burden hours for reporting, and thus for recordkeeping, are about one-fifth of the burden hours associated with non-computerized records. Accordingly, the Commission's estimate of recordkeeping burden hours is as follows: Computerized recordkeepers--(.29) x 86 mil x ($.044) = $ 1,097,360 All other recordkeepers--(.71) x 86 mil x ( $.22) = $13,433,200 Total recordkeeping cost = $14,530,560 Total Burden Hours are then computed by dividing the total cost of recordkeeping by $10, the hourly rate of staff recordkeepers. The total new estimate of burden hours associated with the UGESP recordkeeping then is 1.45 million hours. Assumptions made in deriving the estimate are as follows: Cost per employee for recordkeeping is $.22* Cost per employee for computerized records is $.44* Hourly rate of pay for recordkeeping staff is $10.00** * Both of these are derived from a private employer study. ** To the extent that this is an under-estimate, the reporting burden is over-estimated. Dated: March 19, 1999. For the Commission. Ida L. Castro, Chairwoman. [FR Doc. 99-7317 Filed 3-21-99; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6570-01-M