Employers Must Report EEOC Wage Data by Sept. 30

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission opened its electronic filing system for EEO-1 pay data July 15 after a long delay.

That means employers have until Sept. 30 to file wage data for 2017 and 2018, plus the usual 2018 data on employees broken down by job category, race, sex, and ethnicity.

Employers are now required to report aggregate prior-year W-2 compensation and hours worked in 12 different pay bands for all employees.

Companies with at least 100 employees, or government contractors with at least 50 employees and more than $50,000 in contracts, must file this annual report.

The wage data covers the 2017 and 2018 EEO-1 reporting periods.

Pay Equity

The Obama administration originally sought to expand the collection of EEO-1 data to include work hours and wage rates broken down into gender/race/ethnic categories.

The idea, in part, was to gather more information on pay inequity among women and minorities.

The data collection requirement was to begin in December 2017, but the White House Office of Management and Budget under President Trump delayed implementation so it could be reviewed under the Paperwork Reduction Act to determine the impact on employers.

Several advocacy groups then sued the EEOC, seeking implementation of the wage data collection.

The ruling impacts companies with at least 100 employees, or government contractors with at least 50 employees and more than $50,000 in contracts.

In March, a federal judge in Washington ordered the agency to begin gathering information on employee pay.

The initial deadline was May 31 but the EEOC pushed it back to Sept. 30.

Employers can gather wage data from employees’ W-2 forms, Box 1.

Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the new reporting requirements.

The EEOC has also set up a help desk to address your questions.

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For more information, contact CBIA’s Mark Soycher (860.244.1138 | @HRHotline