In a letter on August 29, 2017 to acting EEOC Chair, Victoria Lipnic, the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OMB/OIRA) called for a review and stay on the implementation of the revised EEO-1 form which would have required covered employers to provide employee W-2 data by EEO-1 category. This revised EEO-1 form is no longer available via the EEOC website.
The previous EEO-1 (component 1) version requiring only demographic data will be utilized during the stay. Rather than reverting to the September filing deadline, the federal government is retaining the new filing deadline of March 31, 2018. The March filing date was previously chosen to capture W-2 wage data with ease in the revised EEO-1 form.
Requirements for filing EEO-1 Reporting include federal contractors with 50 or more employees and covered employers with 100 or more employees. Any payroll period between October 1, 2017 - December 2017 can be used for the 2017 EEO-1 Reporting.
This stay is not a repeal of the regulation itself, but a stay on implementation. Among OMB/OIRA's concerns was that the new compensation data collection was unnecessarily burdensome, lacked practical utility, and that data privacy and confidentiality issues raised had not been adequately addressed. The EEOC will be required to submit to OMB a new information collection package for future EEO-1 form revisions.
Acting EEOC Chair Lipnic issued a statement that included the following: "Going forward, we at the EEOC will review the order and our options. I do hope that this decision will prompt a discussion of other more effective solutions to encourage employers to review their compensation practices to ensure equal pay and close the wage gap. I stand ready to work with Congress, federal agencies, and all stakeholders to achieve that goal."
During this time of review, it is possible that the revised EEO-1 filing will be modified to be less burdensome on employers, while enhancing confidentiality and privacy safeguards. Clients are advised to review their HRIS capability to generate compensation data and hours worked in various formats and time frames.
In this area of consulting, in addition to submission of EEO-1 filings, THOMAS HOUSTON also offers:
- Comparative Compensation Reports on Base Pay, Bonuses, Total Cash Compensation (aggregated data required by the DOL/OFCCP in Item 19 of the Scheduling Letter), and W-2 Box 1 wages.
- Client-specific in-depth compensation audits to ensure nondiscrimination, performed under attorney-client privilege and protections.
Contact us at info@thomashouston.com for further information.
Links to further EEOC information is below:
Lipnic Memorandum:
Letter to EEOC from OMB/OIRA:
EEOC News Release:
