On March 29, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) announced that the EEO-1 data collection reporting period will open on Monday, April 26, 2021, and employers will have until Monday, July 19, 2021, to submit Component 1 data for the years 2019 and 2020. Because the EEOC suspended the 2019 EEO-1 data collection due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, employers are now required to submit two years of data. Submission of the EEO-1 Report is required for employers in the United States with 100 or more employees, and for applicable federal government contractors with 50 or more employees and contracts of $50,000.
In its announcement, the EEOC stated the following:
Recognizing the continuing differential impacts of the pandemic on workplaces nationwide and the requirement to submit two years of EEO-1 data, the EEOC is extending the data collection period this year from 10 weeks to 12 weeks to provide employers additional time to file.
The EEOC will collect EEO-1 data on the gender and race/ethnicity makeup of the workforce for 2019 and 2020. The gender data remains gender binary, with the only option being male or female. For those employers providing additional choices to their employees, the employers must still identify their employees as either male or female for EEO-1 reporting purposes. In addition, pay data will not be collected.
When the reporting period opens, resources to assist filers with their data submissions will be available on a new dedicated website, https://EEOCdata.org. Employers should consider preparing for their submissions now.
What Employers Should Do Now
- Review your workforce data to ensure that the gender and race/ethnicity of each of your employees has been identified.
- Where employees have not voluntarily self-identified their gender and race/ethnicity, make a visual identification.
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