Employers Should Prepare Now for EEO-1 Wage Data Reporting Mandate

04.22.2019
HR & Safety

The current deadline for filing EEO-1 forms with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission remains May 31.

But for now, employers will not have to file wage data, and are instead only obligated to report their 2018 data on the number of employees working for the business broken down by job category, race, sex, and ethnicity, as in past years.

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

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

A federal judge in Washington D.C. recently ordered the EEOC to begin gathering information on employee pay as part of its annual EEO-1 survey, after several worker advocacy groups sued the commission seeking to implement the wage data collection mandate.

In response to the court ruling, the EEOC indicated that incorporating the wage data reporting by the May 31 EEO-1 filing deadline would be impossible due to agency systems, processes, and resource limitations, although a Sept. 30 deadline might be feasible.

The court has been in discussion with the parties to explore feasible implementation strategies, and is expected to rule further in coming weeks.

On Again, Off Again

This on-again, off-again reporting mandate is one of many regulatory and statutory initiatives nationwide reflecting the ongoing debate over pay equity and discrimination that’s happening in Washington and many states, including Connecticut.

For now, the EEOC is advising employers to proceed with preparations to file the usual EEO-1 report by the May 31 date with the data on numbers of employees broken down by race, sex, and ethnicity.

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

Given the direction this litigation has taken, it would be wise for employers to begin thinking of how they might gather the relevant wage data.

But given the direction this litigation has taken, it would be wise for employers to begin thinking of how they might gather the relevant wage data, which generally would be drawn from employees’ W-2 forms, Box 1.

In addition, reports may require submitting hours worked for all employees by race, ethnicity, and sex within 12 proposed pay bands.

Watch for further guidance from the EEOC on whether and when this new wage data reporting may be required.


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

Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected with CBIA News Digests

The latest news and information delivered directly to your inbox.

CBIA IS FIGHTING TO MAKE CONNECTICUT A TOP STATE FOR BUSINESS, JOBS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH. A BETTER BUSINESS CLIMATE MEANS A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR EVERYONE.