By: Regina Dyerly
COO / Partner
&
Debra Fowler
Training and Compliance Manager
The EEO-1 Reporting period for 2022 data is currently closed, although the EEO website indicates it is scheduled to open mid-July: Home (eeocdata.org).
What is an EEO-1 Report?
The Employer Information Report EEO-1 (EEO-1 Report) is an annual compliance survey that certain employers must complete, that is filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The survey provides a demographic breakdown of the employer’s workforce and requires company employment data broken down by:
Race/ethnicity
Gender
Job category
The EEO-1 Report is mandated by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1967 as amended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972. The act requires certain employers to report the racial/ethnic and gender composition of their workforce (referred to as component 1 data). All employers in public and private sectors with 15 or more employees must comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be considered an equal opportunity employer. However, just because an employer must comply with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not mean they need to file an EEO-1 report.
Does your company need to file an EEO-1 Report?
The EEOC mandates that the following companies comply with EEO-1 reporting:
All private employers who are:
Subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, with 100 or more employees.
Subject to Title VII who have fewer than 100 employees if the company is owned or affiliated with another company, or with common ownership, control, or management, and the group legally constitutes a single enterprise employing a total of 100 more employees.
**Excluded private employers: even if 100 or more employees, include State and local governments, public primary and secondary school systems, institutions of higher education, American Indian or Alaska Native tribes, and tax-exempt private membership clubs other than labor organizations.
All federal contractors who:
Are not exempt under 41 CFR 60-1.5;
Have 50 or more employees;
Are prime contractors or first-tier subcontractors;
And have a contract, subcontract, or purchase order amounting to $50,000 or more; or serve as depositories of Government funds in any amount; or are financial institutions which are issuing and paying agents for U.S. Savings Bonds and savings notes.
This means Federal contractors with 1 – 49 employees and other private employers with 1 – 99 employees are not required to file EEO-1 data. Keep in mind that EEO-1 reporting only applies to company offices physically located within the United States and does not include Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands, or other American Protectorates. If an employer has offices in the U.S. along with some offices located in other countries, those offices outside the U.S. do not have to report any employee data. Additionally, a separate EEO-1 report form needs to be submitted for each separate location of a company. For example, your company has offices in Denver, Indianapolis, and Houston, therefore three separate forms will need to be submitted.
What information do you need to complete the EEO-1 Report?
You will need to have your Company ID and passcode (provided by U.S. mail for previous filers or at registration for new filers), EIN, NAICS code(s), addresses, and EINs for all establishment locations, count of all full and part-time employees during the snapshot pay period, sex and race/ethnicity of all employees, job categories of all employees. The workforce snapshot period is October 1 through December 31 for 2022.
What information is included in an EEO-1 Report?
As we mentioned above, you are reporting to the EEOC how many employees you have within each EEOC-defined job category and where they fall along demographic lines; specifically, race and gender.
Information that identifies individual employees, such as names, will NOT appear on the report.
The reporting form looks like a grid, with EEOC-defined job categories listed vertically. Listed horizontally are genders: Male and Female. Included within each gender category are the different races.
For Non-Binary employees, the EEOC previously published on their FAQ page on August 15, 2019, that you “may report employee counts and labor hours for non-binary gender employees by job category and pay band and racial group in the comment box on the Certification Page” and is still the reporting process for the 2021 data.
What happens if your company does not file an EEO-1 Report?
There are not any financial or legal penalties for not participating in EEO-1 reporting if your company meets the qualifications. However, although it is an administrative burden, it is in your company’s best interests to comply. Section 709(c) of Title VII allows the EEOC to compel an employer to file the EEO-1 report by obtaining a court order from the United States District Court, which could lead to the employer being held in contempt. If any employee or a third party (i.e., a job applicant) submits a discrimination or harassment charge against your company to the EEOC, one of the first things the investigator will do is review your company’s EEO-1 report. Your company’s history of compliance and transparency could impact the outcome of current or future investigations. Also, if your company is a federal government contractor, you could lose your contract by not submitting your company’s report by the deadline.
How to file an EEO-1 report
The EEOC has made the filing process easier with the creation of their new dedicated website https://eeocdata.org. It lists all the information you need and includes a detailed instruction booklet. If you have filed before, you will need to create an account with the company ID and passcode you received in the mail via USPS. If you are a new filer, you will receive your company ID and passcode when you register your company. The EEOC states that they will have their Filer Support Team available to respond to inquiries and to provide filer assistance.
Since the EEOC does not penalize for non-compliance, some companies will choose to skip their EEO-1 Reporting. However, it is an important annual activity that should be added to your compliance list. Having and correctly utilizing your HRIS or payroll software’s reporting function will make this process smoother. This reporting typically falls within the HR department, and if you are an HRO client of Vida HR, then your HR Business Partner will complete this on your behalf.