EEOC decides not to require EEO-1 pay data in the future

Posted September 16, 2019

Claiming that the burden for gathering the “component 2” EEO-1 pay data is higher than previously estimated and outweighs the benefits, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has determined that it will not compel its gathering or, therefore, reporting in the future. The agency published a notice of its determination in the September 12, 2019 Federal Register. Comments are being accepted until November 12, 2019.

The EEOC must still collect the component 2 pay data for 2017 and 2018 by September 30, 2019, so employers still need to meet this deadline. The regular EEO-1 data EEO-1 Report, was required to be submitted and certified by Friday, May 31, 2019, and will continue to be required in the future.

Currently, employers, including federal contractors, are required to submit Component 2 compensation data for 2017 if they have 100 or more employees during the 2017 workforce snapshot period. Employers, including federal contractors, are required to submit Component 2 compensation data for 2018 if they have 100 or more employees during the 2018 workforce snapshot period. The workforce snapshot period is an employer-selected pay period between October 1 and December 31 of the reporting year. Federal contractors and other private employers with fewer than 100 employees are not required to report Component 2 compensation data. The pay data is to be sorted by job category, race, ethnicity and sex.

Despite the added burden, the EEOC believes the proven benefit of gathering component 1 data to EEOC's mission justifies its continued collection. The EEOC claims that this long-held practice has occurred for over 50 years and has proven its usefulness in enforcing employment discrimination laws in many ways.

This latest move from the EEOC might not be the end of this issue. Courts could get involved and mandate the EEOC to gather the pay data in the future regardless of this latest decision.

Therefore, employers need to know that they still need to report the EEO-1 pay data by September 30, 2019 but might not need to do so in the future. They will, however, continue to report the usual EEO-1 data in the future.

This article was written by Darlene M. Clabault, SHRM-CP, PHR, CLMS, of J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.