2010-32388. Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness), Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs), DoD.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel and Readiness (Reserve Affairs)) announces the following proposed public information collection and seeks public comment on the provisions thereof. Comments are invited on: Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; the accuracy of the agency's estimate of burden of the proposed information collection; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

DATES:

Consideration will be given to all comments received by February 25, 2011.

ADDRESSES:

You may submit comments, identified by docket number and title, by any of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
• Mail: Federal Docket Management System Office, Room 3C843, 1160 Defense Pentagon, Washington, DC 20301-1160.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name, docket number and title for this Federal Register document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the Internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on this proposed information collection or to obtain a copy of the proposal and associated collection instruments, please write to RAND Corporation Attn: Dr. Susan M. Gates, 1776 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90407 or call 310-393-0411.

Title, Associated Form, and OMB Control Number: Department of Defense Focus Groups of Employers; OMB Control Number 0704-TBD.

Needs and Uses: The Department of Defense Focus Groups of Employers are designed to identify ways of supporting employers when Guard and Reserve employees are absent due to military duties and targeting such support, explore the characteristics of duty-related absences (such as frequency and duration) that have the greatest impact on employers, characterize the attitudes of employers toward Guard and Reserve employees, and examine knowledge of and compliance with Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) and other ESGR programs. The Department of Defense Focus Groups of Employers are intended to complement information gathered through the Department of Defense National Survey of Employers. The Department of Defense will use these data to inform decisions related to the management of Guard and Reserve.

Affected Public: Business or other for-profit; Not-for-profit institutions; Federal Government; State, local or tribal government organizations.

Annual Burden Hours: 225 hours.

Number of Respondents: 150.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Average Burden per Response: 1.5 hours.

Frequency: One time.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Summary of Information Collection

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) requires that persons who serve or have served in the Armed Forces, Reserves, National Guard or other “uniformed services:” (1) Are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service; (2) are promptly reemployed in their civilian jobs upon their return from duty; and (3) are not discriminated against in employment based on past, present, or future military service. The Act covers members of the Uniformed Services, any other category of persons designated by the President in time of war or national emergency, and their government and civilian employers. It is the responsibility of the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve component members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee's military commitment. The Department of Defense Focus Groups of Employers are being conducted using a stratified cluster sampling design to provide in-depth information to determine best practices of ESGR in supporting employers of Reserve and Guard members and to evaluate the effectiveness of ESGR and DoD programs. The information collected is used in conjunction with survey information collected on a statistically random and nationally-representative basis. The information collected is used for overall program evaluation, management and improvement.

Dated: December 20, 2010.

Morgan F. Park,

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.