Extra time to collect data
EEO-1 Delay
The EEO-1 reporting deadline has become a game of traffic light (You know what I mean… that game we played as a kid that meant you could only move when the person who was the traffic light yelled “green light” you could take off running to the finish line). Looks like we are back to “Red light”, but hopefully you are now data experts and are ready to upload as soon as they say “Green light!”. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently announced that the collection window will open in “mid-July” 2023, not April, as initially scheduled. You should expect to have the same amount of time (about one month) to upload or file your 2022 EEO-1 Component 1 data through the EEOC’s website before the window closes. Though the delay can be annoying, it does give you time to know if you are required to file and what you will need.
Who Is Required to File EEO-1 Reports?
The EEOC and the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) regulations require eligible employers to file Standard Form 100 (EEO-1 reports) annually through the EEOC’s dedicated website for EEO-1 Component 1 data collection at www.eeocdata.org/eeo1.
Employers who are required to file EEO-1 reports include:
- Private-sector employers that are subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) and have 100 or more employees;
- Employers subject to Title VII with fewer than 100 employees if the employer is affiliated with another company so as to be considered legally as a single enterprise employing a total of 100 or more employees; and
- Certain federal contractors employing 50 or more employees.
The filing of EEO-1 reports is mandatory and not voluntary for “eligible” employers under federal regulations. Those employers covered by the EEO-1 reporting requirement must summarize their workforce’s demographics by race/ethnicity, sex, and job categories.
What is reported?
An EEO-1 report provides the EEOC with a snapshot of a covered employer’s workforce during a specific payroll period of the applicable year. Employers are also required to provide gender/sex data by an employee’s job category. Although the EEOC added an “X” gender marker as a component of the charge intake process last year, there is no current equivalent for EEO-1 reporting of non-binary individuals.
If a covered employer fails to timely upload its data, the EEOC has the power to seek a court order to obtain compliance. For federal contractors or subcontractors, penalties for non-compliance could include the termination of their contracts and debarment from future contracts. Making willfully false statements on EEO-1 reports is a violation of federal law which is punishable by a fine or imprisonment under the law.
If the preparation or filing of an EEO-1 report would create an undue hardship for an employer, it can apply to the EEOC for an exemption or an alternative reporting method in writing prior to the filing deadline for the report. The EEOC has stated that EEO-1 reports and the information from individual reports will be kept confidential by the agency as required by Title VII, and will not be made public by the EEOC unless the agency institutes a proceeding under Title VII involving the EEO-1 Component data.
Commentary by: Raylea Stelmach
Edited by:
