On Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget notified the EEOC that it was delaying a rule finalized last year that would require large employers to report salaries of workers. The rule was implemented to help combat gender pay inequality.
The rule would require any employer who must file an EEO-1 report, which is any private employer with 100 or more employees or federal contractor with 50 or more employees, to provide the previously required information about the number of its employees broken down by gender, race and ethnicity. The second part of the rule would require employers to also submit W2 payroll data for its employees as they fit in 12 salary bands. The actual wages paid per employee does not have to be provided. However, employers would have to list the number of employees in each salary band and break down those numbers by gender and race/ethnicity.
The rule was to go into effect this year for the reports due in March 2018. However, the OMB has now put on the brakes.
The EEOC, however, wants to make clear that this announcement does not mean that there will be a lack of enforcement in this area. Law 360 is reporting that the EEOC Chair stressed Wednesday that gender pay inequality was still a “high priority.”
In the meantime, the 2017 EEO-1 online portal is temporarily off-line. Employers will still have to provide the data required by the first part of the rule and should periodically check with the EEOC to see when the 2017 survey is issued.