As ordered by a federal court, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced it will collect 2017 and 2018 pay data from employers from mid-July to September 30, 2019, and will notify employers of the precise start date in July as soon as it is available.
“EEO-1 filers should begin preparing to submit Component 2 data for calendar year 2017," the EEOC's announcement reads, "in addition to data for calendar year 2018, by September 30, 2019, in light of the court’s recent decision in National Women’s Law Center, et al., v. Office of Management and Budget, et al.”
Background: On April 25, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the EEOC to collect two years of pay data as part of the EEO-1 report. The reinstated pay data report will require employers to report the total number of employees and total number of hours worked in 2018 for 12 different pay bands (pay ranges), 10 different EEO-1 job categories, and 14 different gender and race/ethnicity groups by September 30, 2019. The EEOC was also ordered to collect a second year of pay data but was given the option to collect either 2017 or 2019 data and to notify the court by May 3, 2019 of which year it chooses.
Employers should continue to use the currently open EEO-1 portal to submit 2018 component 1 (employment) data by May 31, 2019.
It is unclear at this point whether the EEOC will collect 2019 pay data next year along with component 1 data.
Outlook: Although the Justice Department has until May 4 to appeal the court’s decision, no decision has been announced. Janet Dhillon's nomination to be the next Chair of the EEOC is on the list for action in the Senate next week, which would give the Trump administration a GOP majority on the Commission for the first time and could enable it to revisit the requirement.
