As announced on August 29th, 2017 by the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (or OIRA), the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (or EEOC) is implementing an immediate stay and reviewing of the effectiveness of the pay data collection components of the revised Equal Employer Information Report (as known as the EEO-1 report).
Last year, the commission amended the EEO-1 report to require federal contractors and private employers with at least 100 employees to include pay and hours worked data by race, ethnicity, and sex, grouped by occupational category, by March 31st, 2018, but the OIRA cited concerns with the cost, utility, and confidentiality of these amendments and therefore decided to suspend a portion of the revised EEO-1 report.
The OIRA’s suspension does not completely rescind the revised EEO-1 report, but it does relieve employers of their obligation to file pay and hours worked data. According to the EEOC’s website:
The 2017 EEO-1 will continue to collect race, ethnicity and gender data by job category and will not include the collection of pay and hours worked data. Reports must be submitted and certified by March 31, 2018. The employment data used for the 2017 EEO-1 report should be selected from a payroll period in October, November, or December the fourth quarter of calendar year 2017.
As in years past, employers will receive letters of notification approximately two months prior to the EEO-1 Survey due date of March 31st, 2018.
Despite this change in policy, acting EEOC Chair Victoria Lipnic, re-affirmed the commission’s commitment to fighting wage inequality, adding that this revision provides them with “an opportunity to address the wage gap in a holistic way.” The EEOC will continue to publish further details on any future changes, deadlines, and timelines in the Federal Register.
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