Last week, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) urged President Trump to rescind the new requirements of the revised EEO-1 form. I originally wrote about the proposed EEO-1 form last fall – you can find my blog post here. The revised form requires, for the first time, that covered employers submit pay data to the government. The purpose is to assist the EEOC in identifying and eradicating pay discrimination based on gender, race, and other protected categories.
According to the Senators, “[t]hese revisions will place significant paperwork, reporting burdens, and new costs on American businesses, and will result in few jobs created and higher prices for American consumers.” The EEOC projected it would take the approximately 61,000 covered employers a total of about 1.9 million hours and cost $53.5 million to complete the new forms.[1] However, the United States Chamber of Commerce claims the figures are closer to 8 million hours and $400 million to comply.[2]
The EEOC had initially set a September 2017 deadline for companies to file the new report. After much pushback from the business community, the first reports under the new rules are due by March 31, 2018. This gives elected officials plenty of time to try and convince the Trump Administration to reverse course. The reversal must come from the Office of Management and Budget, which is led by former South Carolina Representative Mick Mulvaney.
This update serves as a reminder to employers to be proactive regarding pay discrepancies. Employers should consider conducting an internal audit to determine whether there is a legitimate business reason for differences in pay among similar categories of employees.
[1] https://www.bna.com/scrap-eeoc-pay-n57982086684/
[2] Id.