47 U.S.C. § 554 : US Code - Section 554: Equal employment opportunity

Search 47 U.S.C. § 554 : US Code - Section 554: Equal employment opportunity

(a) Entities within scope of coverage
This section shall apply to any corporation, partnership,
association, joint-stock company, or trust engaged primarily in the
management or operation of any cable system.
(b) Discrimination prohibited
Equal opportunity in employment shall be afforded by each entity
specified in subsection (a) of this section, and no person shall be
discriminated against in employment by such entity because of race,
color, religion, national origin, age, or sex.
(c) Equal opportunity programs; establishment; maintenance;
execution; terms
Any entity specified in subsection (a) of this section shall
establish, maintain, and execute a positive continuing program of
specific practices designed to ensure equal opportunity in every
aspect of its employment policies and practices. Under the terms of
its program, each such entity shall -
(1) define the responsibility of each level of management to
ensure a positive application and 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, age, or sex, and solicit their recruitment assistance on
a continuing basis;
(4) conduct a continuing program to exclude every form of
prejudice or discrimination based on race, color, religion,
national origin, age, 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, training, job design,
and other measures needed to ensure genuine equality of
opportunity to participate fully in all its organizational units,
occupations, and levels of responsibility.
(d) Revision of rules; required provisions; annual statistical
report; notice and comment on amendments
(1) Not later than 270 days after the date of enactment of the
Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act of 1992,
and after notice and opportunity for hearing, the Commission shall
prescribe revisions in the rules under this section in order to
implement the amendments made to this section by such Act. Such
revisions shall be designed to promote equality of employment
opportunities for females and minorities in each of the job
categories itemized in paragraph (3).
(2) Such rules shall specify the terms under which an entity
specified in subsection (a) of this section shall, to the extent
possible -
(A) disseminate its equal opportunity program to job
applicants, employees, and those with whom it regularly does
business;
(B) use minority organizations, organizations for women, media,
educational institutions, and other potential sources of minority
and female applicants, to supply referrals whenever jobs are
available in its operation;
(C) evaluate its employment profile and job turnover against
the availability of minorities and women in its franchise area;
(D) undertake to offer promotions of minorities and women to
positions of greater responsibility;
(E) encourage minority and female entrepreneurs to conduct
business with all parts of its operation; and
(F) analyze the results of its efforts to recruit, hire,
promote, and use the services of minorities and women and explain
any difficulties encountered in implementing its equal employment
opportunity program.
(3)(A) Such rules also shall require an entity specified in
subsection (a) of this section with more than 5 full-time employees
to file with the Commission an annual statistical report
identifying by race, sex, and job title the number of employees in
each of the following full-time and part-time job categories:
(i) Corporate officers.
(ii) General Manager.
(iii) Chief Technician.
(iv) Comptroller.
(v) General Sales Manager.
(vi) Production Manager.
(vii) Managers.
(viii) Professionals.
(ix) Technicians.
(x) Sales Personnel.
(xi) Office and Clerical Personnel.
(xii) Skilled Craftspersons.
(xiii) Semiskilled Operatives.
(xiv) Unskilled Laborers.
(xv) Service Workers.
(B) The report required by subparagraph (A) shall be made on
separate forms, provided by the Commission, for full-time and part-
time employees. The Commission's rules shall sufficiently define
the job categories listed in clauses (i) through (vi) of such
subparagraph so as to ensure that only employees who are principal
decisionmakers and who have supervisory authority are reported for
such categories. The Commission shall adopt rules that define the
job categories listed in clauses (vii) through (xv) in a manner
that is consistent with the Commission policies in effect on June
1, 1990. The Commission shall prescribe the method by which
entities shall be required to compute and report the number of
minorities and women in the job categories listed in clauses (i)
through (x) and the number of minorities and women in the job
categories listed in clauses (i) through (xv) in proportion to the
total number of qualified minorities and women in the relevant
labor market. The report shall include information on hiring,
promotion, and recruitment practices necessary for the Commission
to evaluate the efforts of entities to comply with the provisions
of paragraph (2) of this subsection. The report shall be available
for public inspection at the entity's central location and at every
location where 5 or more full-time employees are regularly assigned
to work. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as
prohibiting the Commission from collecting or continuing to collect
statistical or other employment information in a manner that it
deems appropriate to carry out this section.
(4) The Commission may amend such rules from time to time to the
extent necessary to carry out the provisions of this section. Any
such amendment shall be made after notice and opportunity for
comment.
(e) Annual certification of compliance; periodic investigation of
employment practices
(1) On an annual basis, the Commission shall certify each entity
described in subsection (a) of this section as in compliance with
this section if, on the basis of information in the possession of
the Commission, including the report filed pursuant to subsection
(d)(3) of this section, such entity was in compliance, during the
annual period involved, with the requirements of subsections (b),
(c), and (d) of this section.
(2) The Commission shall, periodically but not less frequently
than every five years, investigate the employment practices of each
entity described in subsection (a) of this section, in the
aggregate, as well as in individual job categories, and determine
whether such entity is in compliance with the requirements of
subsections (b), (c), and (d) of this section, including whether
such entity's employment practices deny or abridge women and
minorities equal employment opportunities. As part of such
investigation, the Commission shall review whether the entity's
reports filed pursuant to subsection (d)(3) of this section
accurately reflect employee responsibilities in the reported job
classifications.
(f) Substantial failure to comply; penalties; notice to public and
franchising authorities
(1) If the Commission finds after notice and hearing that the
entity involved has willfully or repeatedly without good cause
failed to comply with the requirements of this section, such
failure shall constitute a substantial failure to comply with this
subchapter. The failure to obtain certification under subsection
(e) of this section shall not itself constitute the basis for a
determination of substantial failure to comply with this title. For
purposes of this paragraph, the term "repeatedly", when used with
respect to failures to comply, refers to 3 or more failures during
any 7-year period.
(2) Any person who is determined by the Commission, through an
investigation pursuant to subsection (e) of this section or
otherwise, to have failed to meet or failed to make best efforts to
meet the requirements of this section, or rules under this section,
shall be liable to the United States for a forfeiture penalty of
$500 for each violation. Each day of a continuing violation shall
constitute a separate offense. Any entity defined in subsection (a)
of this section shall not be liable for more than 180 days of
forfeitures which accrued prior to notification by the Commission
of a potential violation. Nothing in this paragraph shall limit the
forfeiture imposed on any person as a result of any violation that
continues subsequent to such notification. In addition, any person
liable for such penalty may also have any license under this
chapter for cable auxiliary relay service suspended until the
Commission determines that the failure involved has been corrected.
Whoever knowingly makes any false statement or submits
documentation which he knows to be false, pursuant to an
application for certification under this section shall be in
violation of this section.
(3) The provisions of paragraphs (3) and (4), and the last 2
sentences of paragraph (2), of section 503(b) of this title shall
apply to forfeitures under this subsection.
(4) The Commission shall provide for notice to the public and
appropriate franchising authorities of any penalty imposed under
this section.
(g) Discrimination complaints; investigation; enforcement
Employees or applicants for employment who believe they have been
discriminated against in violation of the requirements of this
section, or rules under this section, or any other interested
person, may file a complaint with the Commission. A complaint by
any such person shall be in writing, and shall be signed and sworn
to by that person. The regulations under subsection (d)(1) of this
section shall specify a program, under authorities otherwise
available to the Commission, for the investigation of complaints
and violations, and for the enforcement of this section.
(h) "Cable operator" defined; owners of multiple unit dwellings
(1) For purposes of this section, the term "cable operator"
includes any operator of any satellite master antenna television
system, including a system described in section 522(7)(A) of this
title and any multichannel video programming distributor.
(2) Such term does not include any operator of a system which, in
the aggregate, serves fewer than 50 subscribers.
(3) In any case in which a cable operator is the owner of a
multiple unit dwelling, the requirements of this section shall only
apply to such cable operator with respect to its employees who are
primarily engaged in cable telecommunications.
(i) Regulatory powers of States and franchising authorities;
nonexclusive nature of remedies and enforcement provisions;
covered franchises
(1) Nothing in this section shall affect the authority of any
State or any franchising authority -
(A) to establish or enforce any requirement which is consistent
with the requirements of this section, including any requirement
which affords equal employment opportunity protection for
employees;
(B) to establish or enforce any provision requiring or
encouraging any cable operator to conduct business with
enterprises which are owned or controlled by members of minority
groups (as defined in section 309(i)(3)(C)(ii) of this title) or
which have their principal operations located within the
community served by the cable operator; or
(C) to enforce any requirement of a franchise in effect on the
effective date of this subchapter.
(2) The remedies and enforcement provisions of this section are
in addition to, and not in lieu of, those available under this or
any other law.
(3) The provisions of this section shall apply to any cable
operator, whether operating pursuant to a franchise granted before,
on, or after October 30, 1984.