MVPD hit by FCC for EEO failures

0

Dollar SignA Rhode Island MVPD made three hires dating back to October of 2010, and did not follow acceptable EEO procedures for any of them. For that and other related EEO oversights, the FCC has hit it with a stiff fine that could have been worse.


Full Channel TV Inc. of Bristol RI was in fact fined only for the most recent of its three hires – the FCC said the two earlier ones were beyond reach of a monetary fine and issued only an admonishment for each.

The problem with the hires was the lack of an adequate recruitment effort, which generally involves publicizing an employment opportunity in such as way that members of minority groups have a chance to gain awareness.

According to the FCC, FCTV used only its own website for two of them and Craigslist for the other.

The fine for failing to adequately publicize the one opening that was still fresh enough for a fine was $5K. FCTV was also fined $1K for failing to analyze its recruitment efforts, $4K for failure to have EEO information in its public file, and $1K for failing to post EEO information on its website.

Of course, the total fine of $11K could have been worse had the FCC hit the company for the other two hires. The fine, which is at the Notice of Apparent Liability stage, also comes with reporting requirements to certify to the FCC that EEO activities have been brought into compliance.