Earlier this spring, a federal district judge ordered the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) to begin the collection of W-2 wage information from mid-sized and large employers that included total hours worked broken down by gender, race and ethnicity—known as “Component 2” data.
All employers that are located in the 50 states and the District of Columbia and have at least 100 employees are required to file EEO-1 survey annually with the EEOC. Federal government contractors and first-tier subcontractors with 50 or more employees and at least $50,000 in contracts must file as well.
The reporting requirement for this information, originally mandated during the Obama Administration, has been held up in the federal courts since 2017 by the Trump Administration’s Office of Management and Budget, which has long refused to implement the requirement and collect the Component 2 data, largely due to concerns over the effectiveness of the data collection. Likewise, a number of employers and their advocates have argued that the reporting requirements of Component 2 are administratively burdensome. The federal judge hearing the dispute felt otherwise, however, holding that the Administration had failed to provide sufficient justification for blocking the collection of the wage and demographic data.
As ordered by the court, EEOC posted a notice to its website, regarding the immediate reinstatement of revised EEO-1 data collection requirements (the notice is available in full HERE).
The notice states that EEO-1 Component 1 data is due by the extended deadline of May 31, 2019. Component 1 encompasses employer data about gender and race/ethnicity by job category, i.e. officials and managers, professionals, office and clerical, laborers, etc. EEO-1 Component 2 data (for calendar years 2017 AND 2018 only) is due by September 30, 2019. An expanded portal for the submission of the Component 2 data is supposed to be available by mid-July. Notification of its availability will be posted by EEOC when it is ready.
On May 3, the Department of Justice filed a Notice of Appeal, meaning that the Trump Administration is not yet giving up the fight. However, the filing of the Notice DOES NOT alter the new EEO-1 filing deadlines. Employers that are obligated to submit EEO-1 reports should prepare for the September 30 Component 2 filing date and, if they haven’t already, begin to compile the required wage and demographic data.
The Employment Law attorneys at Critchfield will continue to track developments, both in the courts and at EEOC, and are available to answer your questions regarding the requirements of EEO-1 submissions. Please feel free to contact us for assistance or additional information.
Tagged In:Component 1Component 2EEO-1EEOCEqual Employment Opportunity Commission