EEO, "Do'h!!"-Deadline for Contractors' Submission of EEO-1 Wage and Hour Data on the Horizon

Gone are the Halcyon days, when it looked like the Trump Administration might overturn EEO-1 wage and hour reporting requirements adopted during the prior administration, as the first batch of reports is due to be submitted by contractors on or before September 30, 2019. To make matters more confusing, technically the Trump Administration is still trying to overturn the wage reporting requirements but, unless something unexpected happens, September 30 is still the applicable deadline.

For a bit of history, the Obama Administration revised the EEO-1 form to require certain employers to provide compensation data along with the gender and race information historically collected. One result of the most recent presidential election was an effort to rescind those changes, which were highly unpopular in many quarters. On April 25, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia entered an order directing EEOC to collect the “new” EEO-1 wage and hour data and to do so by September 30, 2019. While the Trump Administration timely appealed that order, the EEOC correctly noted on its website that “the filing of this Notice of Appeal does not stay the district court orders or alter EEO-1 filers’ obligations to submit” the required pay data. In other words, the legal fight continues, but the obligation to file the data on or before September 30, 2019, persists.

So who is required to submit the compensation data?

With few exceptions, employers with 100 or more employees are required to provide the compensation data to the EEOC on or before September 30, 2019. One benefit to government contractors is that this 100-employee trigger also applies to them. That is to say, while contractors with a contract of $50,000 or more are still required to file the standard EEO-1, only contractors with 100 or more employees are required to submit the additional pay data.

So what is the data that’s required to be submitted?

The original EEO-1 form required covered businesses to provide information regarding the race, ethnicity, and sex of its workforce in 10 categories. The revised – and hotly disputed – EEO-1 requires employers to also provide aggregate data for the reported year, across those same 10 job categories and same race, ethnicity, and sex groups, broken down into 12 broad pay bands. The aggregate data would be calculated from a single payroll period of the employer’s choice, occurring between October 1 and December 31 in the reporting year (i.e. a report in 2019 would be calculated based on data drawn from 2018).

Is there an easy way to submit the data?

“Easy” might be a strong word, but once you’ve cleared the not insignificant hurdle of collecting the necessary data, the EEOC has partnered with NORC at the University of Chicago to create a web-based portal where the data can be submitted electronically. Filers can use either an online form or upload data with a specifically formatted .CSV file.

What if I don’t file a report?

To quote the CFR, “Any employer failing or refusing to file Report EEO-1 when required to do so may be compelled to file by order of a U.S. District Court, upon application o the Commission.”

What if I just fudge my numbers?

Uhh, do NOT do that. Per the CFR, “The making of willfully false statements on Report EEO-1 is a violation of the United States Code, title 18, section 1001, and is punishable by fine or imprisonment.”

“Help?!?”

Centre Law can do that. IF you have questions regarding the applicability of the new EEO-1 reporting requirements or capturing and reporting the data, or any other matter involving doing business with the federal government, drop us a line at https://centrelawg.wpengine.com/contact/.