For some time, employers with 100 or more employees or federal contractors with 50 or more employees have been required to file EEO-1 Employer Information Reports each year. These companies have been required to annually report to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission the number of employees who work for their businesses by job category and the race, ethnicity and sex of their workforce. Beginning this fall, EEO-1 reporting requirements increase and become more complicated. First, a little history.

Back in September 2016, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced a revised EEO-1 report requiring employers to also provide wage information for their workforce by race, ethnicity and sex. It was intended to identify pay inequities and potentially assist the EEOC with targeting industries or particular employers for investigations. Nearly one year later, the OMB announced it was delaying that requirement, and the revised EEO-1 forms were put on hold. A lawsuit challenged the delay, and as a result of an April 25, 2019, federal court order, employers must now report the additional wage information by September 30, 2019.

Here are the new EEO-1 reporting deadlines and requirements:

By May 31, 2019 — Employers must report the number of employees by job category, race, ethnicity and sex for calendar year 2018. (This is the same information that has been required in past years.)

By September 30, 2019 — Employers must report wages paid and total hours worked for all employees by race, ethnicity and sex for calendar years 2017 and 2018. Employers should report employees’ W-2 wages grouped in 12 pay bands adopted for the new EEO-1 survey. When reporting hours worked, employers will use the actual hours worked by non-exempt employees. For exempt employees, employers will use 20 hours per week for part-time exempt and 40 hours per week for full-time exempt employees. (This is the new information.)

These new wage and hours worked requirements for calendar years 2017 and 2018 impose substantial new burdens on employers obligated to file EEO-1 reports. Companies should begin planning now how best to gather and organize this information. The EEOC has provided information on the new requirements on its website: https://www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/index.cfm