FCC Wants Outreach Rules Restored

The Federal Communications Commission asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate some rules previously overturned that encourage television, radio and cable-TV companies to recruit women and minorities.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in January that the agency’s diversity rules were unconstitutional, the second time the court had struck down the regulations.

The FCC program called on broadcasters to make job listings readily available to all qualified applicants, including women and minorities, using job fairs and other methods. Companies that instead opt to conduct their own outreach have to report the race and sex of their job candidates to the FCC.

“The rule involves the important national issue of ensuring equal employment opportunity by businesses that hold valuable government licenses,” the FCC said in an appeal filed Friday.

The FCC program was an attempt to replace broader employment rules that the federal appeals court struck down in 1998.