The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today that, due to high burden on employers and unproven usefulness of the program, it will not collect pay data during future EEO-1 reporting cycles. That is likely welcome news for employers who have been following the EEO-1 reporting saga.
Nothing about today’s announcement changes the obligations for this reporting cycle. Covered employers still need to turn over pay data from 2017 and 2018 by the September 30th deadline as we previously advised. However, they may not need to do so in the future if the EEOC has it’s way.
EEOC Chair Janet Dhillon released a 9-page report on behalf of the Board reestablishing the EEOC’s authority over the pay data. The report states that after reexamining the methodology used, the burden estimate associated with the EEO-1 is higher than … previously estimated. It also noted that the unproven utility to its enforcement program of the pay data … is far outweighed by the burden imposed on employers. For that reason, the report notes, the EEOC will not seek to renew Component 2 of the EEO-1 (pay data) beyond 2019.
What does this announcement mean for employers?
For this reporting cycle — nothing. Employers subject to the EEO-1 reporting requirement will need to submit Component 2 data (hours worked and pay data by race, ethnicity, and sex) by September 30th.
For future reporting cycles — stay tuned. There is nothing to stop the court from enforcing the Obama-era rules requiring pay data collection and reporting for future reporting cycles — just like it did this year. However, the EEOC has taken steps to put a halt to future efforts to collect the data.
NAE will continue to monitor developments and provide updates to ensure employers know what their obligations are. Join our email list to ensure you don’t miss the latest developments on this and other employment-related issues.
