Most private employers with 100 or more employees are required to submit an annual EEO-1 report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission regarding the number of workers employed in different categories, broken down by race, sex, and ethnicity. The Obama administration proposed adding pay data to the required report, as a means of quantifying pay disparities. The collection of pay data was initially approved by the Office of Management and Budget in September 2016, and the new requirement was set to take effect in 2018. Businesses argued that the new requirements were too burdensome. Following the election of President Trump, the OMB stayed implementation of the new requirement based on the Paperwork Reduction Act and alleged formatting issues. However, earlier this month, a Federal District Judge in Washington D.C. rejected the OMB’s argument and ordered the OMB to lift its stay on the collection of the pay data. Should the rule go into effect, employers who are required to submit the annual EEO-1 report will also have to submit pay data broken down by race, sex, and ethnicity. The EEOC’s portal for the submission of EEO-1 reports is now open, but the EEOC is apparently not asking for pay data at this time. What happens next is still to be determined, but additional legal challenges are possible. Stay tuned.
