Executive Summary: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has published a revised proposed rule to collect summary pay data from employers that file EEO-1 reports. The EEOC originally published a proposed rule to collect pay data in February 2016. The revised rule permits employers to use the same W-2 report to complete the EEO-1 that they use for tax purposes. It also changes the EEO-1 filing deadline to March 31 starting with the first filing in 2018. This change was designed to coordinate with the existing W-2 calendar year.
The proposed rule will require employers with 100 or more employees to report summary W-2 income by sex, race, ethnicity, and job group. The revised rule does not change the original proposal to collect W-2 income and hours worked data in 12 pay bands (which were established by the EEOC) for the ten EEO-1 job categories. Under the revised rule (as under the original proposed rule):
- Employers would tally the number of employees in 12 pay bands for each EEO-1 job category.
- For each pay band, employers would enter the number of employees whose W-2 pay for the calendar year falls in that band.
- Employers would report summary pay data. Employers would not report individual pay or salaries.
Employers will also be required to report hours worked by employees. For nonexempt employees, employers will report hours worked as recorded for Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) purposes. For exempt employees, employers may report either: (1) 40 hours per week for full-time workers, and 20 hours per week for part-time workers, multiplied by the number of weeks employed that year; or (2) actual hours-worked data that they already keep. According to the EEOC's website, employers will not be required to collect hours worked data for exempt workers if they do not already keep it.
The revised rule changes the annual filing deadline to March 31, with the first report due in 2018. Employers would not file an EEO-1 report in 2017. Additionally, the revised rule changes the "workforce snapshot" used for the EEO-1 report to a pay period between October 1st and December 31st of the reporting year. Currently, employers use a workforce snapshot of July 1st through September 30th of the reporting year.
The revised rule was published in the Federal Register on July 14, 2016. The EEOC will accept comments on the revised rule for 30 days.
Employers will use the current form when filing the EEO-1 form on or before September 30, 2016. Employers filing EEO-1 reports for 2016 will continue to use the July 1st through September 30th workforce snapshot.
If you have any questions regarding the EEO-1 form or other labor or employment law issues, please contact Linda Cavanna-Wilk, lcavanna-wilk@fordharrison.com, who is a member of our AA/OFCCP/Diversity practice group. You may also contact the FordHarrison attorney with whom you usually work.