On August 29, the White House Office of Management and Budget suspended the previously announced requirements for the updated EEO-1 form that would have required employers with 100 or more employees to report W-2 wage information and total hours worked for all employees by race, ethnicity, and gender. The intent of the pay data reporting was to help the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) identify income inequality with regard to race and gender. The EEOC will further review the pay data reporting requirement, while also exploring other options for collecting this information.

Why the suspension?
Critics of the pay data reporting requirement considered it a burden to employers due to the amount of data that would need to be entered. They also argued that the data being collected, specifically W-2 pay data and grouping different types of employees under broad EEO-1 categories, would not provide a complete picture of pay differences between employees and would not help combat pay inequality. Supporters of the pay data reporting requirement argued that the additional data would encourage companies to take a more serious look at detecting and preventing pay inequality and discrimination.

Next steps for employers
The EEOC will continue to honor the new March 31, 2018 deadline for filing, and will use the same deadline in future years. The latest version of the EEO-1 form, which was updated to include the new fields for W-2 wages and hours, can still be used as well, but the salary information section can be left blank. The existing 10 EEO-1 categories will continue to be reported. If you have any questions about the new ruling or need additional guidance on filing the EEO-1, please contact us.

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