FCC: 5th Circuit Ruling Against SEC Doesn't Apply to EEO Order
The FCC’s workforce diversity data collection effort “is not analogous” to SEC diversity rules the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided against earlier this month, the FCC said in a filing in docket 24-60219 Monday. The National Religious Broadcasters,…
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Texas Association of Broadcasters and the American Family Association have argued that the 5th Circuit should apply the same logic from its en banc ruling in Alliance for Fair Board Recruitment v. SEC to their challenge of the FCC’s equal employment opportunity order (see 2412180012). The FCC’s collection of Form 395-B isn’t linked to diversity goals, and agency rules prohibit use of the data in enforcement actions, the FCC said. The SEC’s rules were aimed at furthering “diversity objectives,” the filing said. The FCC also has a broader authority to regulate broadcast media, the filing said. “The FCC has long understood that authority to allow the collection and disclosure of demographic data from broadcasters, and Congress has ratified that view.”