Senate Committee Chair Alexander, HR Policy Request OMB Abandon Obama EEO-1 Report Changes

Employment Law

Senate HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) called on OMB Director Mick Mulvaney to review and rescind the OMB's approval of the changes to the annual EEO-1 Report that were promulgated under the Obama administration.  HR Policy also joined with over 25 other associations in a similar letter to Mulvaney.  Such action by the OMB would reverse the rule without having to go through the EEOC, which currently has a Democrat majority.  Of concern for employers is whether the administration will modify or eliminate the requirement in a manner timely enough to avoid the March 2018 deadline.  Senator Alexander's letter, co-signed by Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS), states, "These revisions will increase by 20 times the employment data the commission currently collects from 61,000 private employers on their 63 million employees... will place significant paperwork, reporting burdens, and new costs on American businesses, and will result in fewer jobs created and higher prices for American consumers."  Specifically, the new EEO-1 Report would require companies to include the total number of employees and total hours worked for 12 different pay bands by gender, race and ethnicity for 10 broad EEO-1 job categories and to generate separate reports for each location that has more than 50 employees, the headquarters location, and a consolidated report for the entire organization.