Changes to the EEO-1: What You Need to Know

October 4, 2017 Tom Jegou

In a memo sent Aug. 29 to the acting chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced that it would halt implementation of revisions made by the Obama administration in 2016 to the EEO-1 Report. Here’s what’s changing and what you need to know to stay compliant:

What is the EEO-1 Report?

The EEO-1 Report contains information about the race, ethnicity and sex of a company’s employees. The information in this report is collected by the EEOC in order to formulate reports and assist in the investigation of any charges of pay or hiring discrimination by an employer.

What changes were blocked

On Sept. 29, 2016, the EEOC announced that it was making revisions to the EEO-1 Report by adding in a second component. Component 2 of the form requests information about employee pay and hours by race, ethnicity and sex grouped into 12 different salary groups. This mandated addition was set to take effect for the coming report due by March 31, 2018, but has been stopped by order of the OIRA. Among the reasons stated, the halt was put in place as the OIRA has deemed that “some aspects of the revised collection of information lack practical utility, are unnecessarily burdensome, and do not adequately address privacy and confidentiality issues.”

What you need to know

With this change comes some confusion for HR and payroll departments across the nation; however, this announcement signals a reduction in burden for these departments with the removal of Component 2. Keep in mind that this does not mean the EEO-1 Report is obsolete; the remainder of the report is still intact and required for submission by March 31, 2018. For many, gathering all the information required for this report, as well as selecting the right snapshot period to determine which employees are included in the report, is still a difficult and time-consuming task. 

To assist in this process, it is helpful to use and reference Time and Attendance and Payroll systems to gather accurate information on employee hours and wages. Meanwhile, information on employee race, ethnicity and sex can easily be gathered through an HR system. Utilizing a solution that integrates all these systems is recommended as it ensures consistent, high-quality data across all your systems.

Learn more about how SmartLinx can maximize the efficiency of your HR department with our HR solution.

About the Author

Tom Jegou

As Compliance Expert at SmartLinx, Tom Jegou oversees SmartLinx innovations in our payroll and compliance systems. Tom is focused on transforming client needs into leading-edge products. Tom leads cross-functional teams from a product's conception through to its launch. Tom led the design of the 1095-C and Payroll-Based Journal reporting features in the WorkLinx<sup style="font-size: 60%;">TM</sup> suite. Since 1996, Tom has worked with every aspect of Human Capital Management Systems. He has defined, supported, implemented and managed Payroll, Time and Labor and HR systems. Tom is a Certified Payroll Professional through American Payroll Association.

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