The EEO-1 Report is a federally mandated survey that collects workforce data categorized by race, ethnicity, sex and job category.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act (Title VII), employers with 100 or more employees and certain federal contractors must report this data to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by March 31 every year. However, the EEOC extended the deadline for 2017 EEO-1 Reports to June 1, 2018.

The EEOC and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) use EEO-1 information to enforce federal prohibitions against employment discrimination and to address discriminatory pay practices.

Employers Subject to EEO-1 Reporting Requirements

With limited exceptions, the following entities must file EEO-1 Reports by March 31 every year (the deadline for 2017 reports was extended to June 1, 2018):

  • A private employer that has 100 or more employees (with limited exceptions for schools and other organizations);
  • A private employer with between 15 and 99 employees, if it is part of a group of employers that legally constitutes a single enterprise, which employs a total of 100 or more employees; and
  • A federal contractor that has 50 or more employees and is either a prime contractor or first-tier subcontractor, and has a contract, subcontract or purchase order amounting to $50,000 or more.

Although the EEOC sends notification letters to employers it knows to be subject to the EEO-1 requirements, all employers are responsible for obtaining and submitting the necessary information prior to the appropriate deadline. An employer that fails or refuses to file an EEO-1 Report as required may be compelled to do so by a federal district court. Federal contractors also risk losing their government contracts for failures to comply.

If the preparation or filing of an EEO-1 Report would create undue hardship, an employer may send a written request for an exemption or for special reporting procedures to the EEOC. Employers may also obtain a one-time, 30-day extension of the EEO-1 filing deadline by emailing a request to the EEOC. However, the EEOC does not grant any exemptions or extensions requested after the filing deadline.

2017 EEO-1 ReportING

Employers subject to 2017 EEO-1 reporting must submit their reports by either:

  • Entering data directly into the EEO-1 online filing system; or
  • Uploading a data file (which must meet certain specifications) into the online system.

The 2017 EEO-1 survey requires information about an employer’s workforce from any payroll period in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2017. When completing the EEO-1, employers must use data from only one payroll period in either October, November or December 2017. Additional guidance is available on the EEOC’s 2017 EEO-1 website.

Revised Form Blocked for 2017 Reporting

In September 2016, the EEOC announced that it would require employers to use a new, revised EEO-1 form to comply with reporting requirements for 2017. The revised EEO-1 form would have required employers to begin reporting information about employee wages and hours of work. Specifically, the new EEO-1 would have required:

  • Summary pay data—The total number of full- and part-time employees employed during the year in each of the 12 pay bands listed for each EEO-1 job category; and
  • Aggregate hours worked data—A complete tally of the number of hours worked by all employees accounted for in each pay band.

On Aug. 29, 2017, however, the OMB issued a memorandum that blocked the EEOC from requiring employers to use the new form for 2017 reporting. Instead, the EEOC must use the previously approved EEO-1 form to collect data on race/ethnicity and gender while the OMB reviews the revisions contained in the new form. Therefore, employers must use the previously approved, unrevised EEO-1 form when submitting information for 2017.