February 1, 2016 FCC EEO Deadlines

January 8, 2016

Certain radio and television stations face upcoming Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) reporting deadlines on Monday, February 1, 2016:

Annual EEO Public File Report

Radio and television station employment units (SEUs) located in in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Jersey, and New York with five or more full-time employees must prepare by Monday, February 1, 2016 an annual EEO Public File Report (PFR). The report must be placed in the public inspection file of each station in the SEU. (For full-power and Class A television stations, this means the PFR must be uploaded to the station's online public inspection file hosted by the FCC.) The PFR must also be posted on the website belonging to each station in the SEU. 

The PFR should summarize the SEU's recruitment activity from February 1, 2015 through January 31, 2016, including full-time positions filled, the recruitment sources used to advertise those job openings, and the total number of interviewees and hires produced by each recruitment source. The PFR must also include a summary of the SEU's recruitment initiatives.

FCC Form 397 Broadcast Mid-Term Report

Licensees that have reached the mid-point of their eight-year license term must file a FCC Form 397 Broadcast Mid-Term Report for a substantive review of their recruitment activity. Radio SEUs with 11 or more full-time employees located in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi must file the Form 397 with the FCC on or before Monday, February 1, 2016. (Note: Radio SEUs with 10 or fewer full-time employees and television SEUs with four or fewer full-time employees are not required to submit a Form 397.)

The Form 397 requires filers to identify the individual responsible for EEO matters and to submit the SEU’s two most recent PFRs as attachments. Those SEUs with a February 1, 2016 deadline must include PFRs covering February 1, 2014 – January 31, 2015 and February 1, 2015 – January 31, 2016. Once filed with the FCC, the Form 397 must be placed in the public inspection file of each station in the SEU.

If you have any questions about the Form 397 or FCC EEO compliance in general, please contact Kathleen A. Kirby or Elizabeth E. Goldin.