On May 7, 2020, the U.S Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that it will not collect Form EEO-1 workplace demographic data for calendar year 2019 this year.  Rather, the agency will collect EEO-1 data for both calendar years 2019 and 2020 next year, with the announced expectation that collection of both years’ data will begin in March 2021.

Since the 2019 report will be based on data from the fourth quarter of 2019, employers may want to take steps now to ensure that the necessary data gets pulled and preserved so that it is ready next year for filing.  This will be particularly important for employers that are changing or contemplating changes to their human resource information systems. 

Although the form to be used for 2019 reporting has still not received final Office of Management and Budget approval for use, at this point, there is no reason to believe that it will change from what was used in prior years, with one notable exception:  Recall that last fall, EEOC announced that it would not seek approval to continue collection of the controversial “Component 2” pay data it had previously adopted, but instead sought approval for only the traditional “Component 1” collection, which collects data on employees broken down by sex, race, ethnicity, and job categories.  The agency’s decision to not continue to collect Component 2 information, which imposed significant burdens on reporting employers, was welcome news.

In general, all private-sector employers with 100 or more employees are required to file an annual EEO-1.  Federal contractors with 50 or more employees and contracts with the federal government in excess of $50,000 are also required to file an EEO-1.

In its announcement, the EEOC also indicated that it would not collect form EEO-3 (local referral unions) and EEO-5 (public elementary and secondary school districts) this year, but expects to begin collection of these forms in January 2021.

EEOC will directly notify EEO-1, 3, and 5 filers regarding the delayed survey opening.