Is the New EEO 395-B Form Due by September 30?

The FCC has officially announced that broadcasters will not have to file the new EEO Form 395-B form by this September 30.  The notice confirms that the form was only to be filed after a Media Bureau public notice was published announcing the filing requirement, and since that notice has not issued, no filing will be due.  So, check that off your list, and if you were hanging on to payroll records from July or August to use for completion of the form, you can unclutter your desk.  The FCC could have easily decided not to issue any statement or notice, so the clarity is helpful. But they were careful to state that the announcement was not intended to alter the legal effect of the Order adopting the requirement.

Speaking of legal effects of Orders, those could be altered in other ways by pending litigation.  In footnote 5, the notice captures the number of legal proceedings challenging the FCC’s order reinstating the form and data collection requirement.  It is safe to say that those legal proceedings produce a tangled mess that will take months to resolve.  Even the challenges filed at the FCC are on hold until the courts rule on the various challenges.