The Updated Proposal
On July 14, 2016, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) published its revised proposal to collect summary pay data by race, ethnicity, and sex from employers that already file the EEO-1 report (https://federalregister.gov/a/2016-16692).- The revised proposal carefully considers the utility of the data for enforcing the nondiscrimination laws and responds to public comments that the EEOC received in response to its initial proposal published in the Federal Register on February 1, 2016 as well as testimony from the March 16, 2016 public hearing.
- Under the revised proposal, employers with 100 or more employees that already file an EEO-1 report will provide summary pay data.
- The revised proposal continues to minimize the burden on employers while ensuring the pay data is useful for the EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at the Department of Labor.
- The annual added cost to report the pay data, using the revised burden estimate, is approximately $416 per employer.
- Employers provide this data through an online system. Employers enter data only in those cells of the report where they have employees. The overwhelming majority of the cells are left blank.
When Would the EEOC Begin Collecting Pay Data from Employers?
In response to comments, employers would file the first new EEO-1 report, including pay data, by March 31, 2018.- This gives employers 18 months to transition to the new system, rather than 12 months, as the EEOC originally proposed.
- March 31st provides employers time after they complete calendar-year tax forms, so they can report W-2 Box 1 numbers prepared for tax purposes. The EEOC would not require any special calculations, as the EEOC's original February 1, 2016 proposal did.
- The next EEO-1 report is due on September 30, 2016. There are no changes on this report. Employers will not be required to provide pay data this year. Then, employers do not have to file an EEO-1 report for 18 months, until March 31, 2018.
Why Collect Pay Data
Workers depend on the EEOC to advance opportunity and freedom from workplace discrimination. Although much progress has been made in the past 50 years, pay disparities continue to be a problem in the American workplace. Since the creation of the President's Equal Pay Task Force in 2010, the EEOC has investigated tens of thousands of charges of pay discrimination, and through enforcement efforts, the EEOC has obtained more than $85 million in monetary relief for those who have faced pay discrimination based on sex. Additionally, studies show that significant pay gaps exist in the U.S. workforce linked to sex, race, and ethnicity. Even when controlling for other factors, workplace discrimination is an important contributing factor to these pay gaps.For Further Detail visit the EEOC's website
