We previously reported that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) planned to collect wage data on its EEO-1 Report from employers with 100 or more employees. Currently, federal contractors with at least 50 employees and employers with 100 or more employees are required annually to submit EEO-1 Reports, which collect data by job category about employees’ race, ethnicity and gender.

The EEOC plan was to require reporting on employee W-2 earnings and hours worked for employers with 100 or more employees. The stated purpose was to study wage discrepancies for equal pay complaints. The EEOC revised its EEO-1 form for EEO-1 Reports on September 29, 2016 to require this information. Many employer groups had complained about the proposal, stating, among other problems, that it would place a heavy burden on employers to gather the information, that the proposal did not address privacy concerns, and that the data collected would be of minimal use in determining wage discrepancies that were caused by discrimination, rather than by other factors.

On August 29, 2017, the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) told the EEOC in a memo that it was placing an immediate stay on the pay data collection aspects of the September 29, 2016 EEO-1 form, while the OMB reviews the matter.

The EEOC then issued a press release stating that “the previously approved EEO-1 form which collects data on race, ethnicity and gender by occupational category will remain in effect. Employers should plan to comply with the earlier approved EEO-1 (Component 1) by the previously set filing date of March 2018.” (Emphasis in the original.)

What Does This Mean For You?

If you are an employer with 100 or more employees, you will not have to worry at this time about the burdensome pay data requirements in the revised EEO-1 form. Instead, the previously approved form (Component 1) should be used for making EEO-1 Reports.

If you have any questions or concerns about this update, or any other employment or labor law questions, please contact S. Whitney Rahman at swr@blakingerthomas.com or (717) 509-7237.

**This update is provided for informational purposes only and
should not be construed as legal advice or as creating an
attorney-client relationship where one does not already exist**