The CRD (California Civil Rights Department, formerly known as the DFEH) published “Important Announcements for the 2023 Reporting Year” with new resources (guides, templates, training slides, responses to FAQs), and information required in order to comply with California law’s Pay Data Reporting requirements.

If you are a private employer with 100 or more employees, or an employer with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors, California law requires that you annually report pay, demographic, and other workforce data regarding your California employees to the CRD. These requirements must be met this year by May 8, 2024.

The CRD’s February 2024 publication requires the following regarding pay data reporting as it relates only to California employees:

• Use of New Templates: As of February 1, 2024, the CRD requires use of their newly uploaded pay data reporting Excel templates found on their portal. Templates from prior years will not be accepted.
   
• Completion of Additional Data Fields:
  • Identification of Remote Workers: The CRD now requires that employers report the number of employees who worked remotely during the reporting period. The CRD defines remote workers as those employees or labor contractors who work remotely in California (i.e. from home, not at the company established or assigned offices/workspace) with no “expectation to regularly report in person to a physical establishment to perform work duties.” Those workers who split their time working remotely and coming into the office/workspace, do not qualify as remote workers for purposes of the CRD’s required pay data reporting.
  • Identification of Race/Ethnicity, Sex: Those employers with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors, can no longer simply report as “unknown” the race/ethnicity or sex of a labor contractor employee. Currently, the CRD is following the EEOC’s system for race/ethnicity identification, and employers are required to select from one of seven race/ethnicity options for each employee. While employees self-reporting their race/ethnicity is the preferred method, the CRD requires that the employer make a selection for each employee should the employee not self-report. For reporting employees’ sex, the CRD recognizes three: male, female and non-binary. Similarly, should the employee not self-report, the employer will need to make a selection.

These requirements are in addition to those changes to the reporting the CRD implemented last year which remain in effect. CDF’s previous blog posts analyzing these changes and the signing of SB 1162 are here and here.

The CRD is “actively pursuing non-filers,” and there are increased penalties, should employers fail to comply. Penalties include: $100 per employee, $200 per employee for a repeat failure to report, and the CRD’s ability to recover costs for any enforcement action. Labor contractors who have failed to provide the responsive data to their client employer can also be held accountable and assessed penalties.