EEOC targeting employers for failure to file EEO-1 reports

Published: June 3, 2024 | by Emily Scace, Senior Legal Editor at Brightmine

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it has filed lawsuits against 15 employers in 10 states for failure to file required EEO-1 reports in the 2021 and 2022 reporting years.

The EEO-1 Component 1 is a mandatory annual report for employers with 100 or more employees. Covered employers must electronically submit data on the composition of their workforce by job category, sex, race and ethnicity to the EEOC each year.

For data covering calendar year 2023, the EEOC’s online data collection system opened to employers on April 30, and the submission deadline is June 4, 2024.

“For nearly six decades, the [EEOC] has required private employers with 100 or more employees to submit workforce demographic data to the EEOC,” EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows said in a statement. “The data help the agency focus its resources, identify potential discrimination, and refine its investigations. As we commemorate this year’s 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC remains committed to using all our tools to remedy discrimination and fulfill the promise of equal opportunity in our nation’s civil rights laws.”

The employers cited span a variety of industries, including retail, construction, restaurants, manufacturing and logistics.

Demographic reporting changes on the way

Racial and ethnic data for the EEO-1 Component 1 is generally captured through voluntary self-identification by employees. Employers must give employees the opportunity to self-identify; if an employee declines to do so, the employer may use another method, such as employment records or observer identification.

In a March directive, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced mandatory changes to its standards for collecting data on race and ethnicity. Among other changes, a new “Middle Eastern or North African” category will be added, and the questions on Hispanic or Latino ethnicity and race, currently separate, will become a single combined question to which respondents will be able to select as many categories as are applicable. For example, a respondent would be able to select both “Black or African American” and “Hispanic or Latino,” which is currently not possible. The current category structure allows individuals to select a “Two or More Races” option but not to provide granular information on the specific racial or ethnic groups with which they identify.

All agencies that collect such data, including the EEOC, will be required to submit a plan for compliance by September 2025 and to implement the new standards by 2029. However, the calendar year 2023 data collection due on June 4, 2024, retains the existing category structure.