The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced that the annual EEO-1 Component 1 data collection for 2023 data will open Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The EEO-1 Component 1 report must be filed by Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
Employers who are reading this may be thinking, didn’t I just file my EE0-1 Component 1 Report? You are not mistaken; the EEO-1 Component 1 Report for 2022 data filing deadline was a mere three months ago on December 5, 2023.
Delays in opening the 2022 data collection process until the fall of 2023 have been attributed to the completion of the mandatory, three-year renewal of the EEO-1 Component 1 data collection by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This caused quick succession of the 2022 and 2023 data reporting deadlines for employers.
While it may seem like demographic data déjà vu, employers should approach their obligation for 2023 with renewed care and attention to ensure complete and accurate reporting.
What is the EEO-1 Component 1 Report?
The EEO-1 Component 1 report is a mandatory annual report required of all private sector employers with 100 or more employees (and federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting certain criteria). The report contains workforce demographic data including job categories, sex, and race or ethnicity.
Local referral unions, state and local governments, and public elementary and secondary school systems and districts are not subject to EEO-1 Component 1 reporting, and instead are required to submit their demographic data through other EEO data collection channels administered by the EEOC such as the EEO-3 (Local Union Report), EE0-4 (State and Local Government Report) and EEO-5 (Elementary-Secondary Staff Information Report).
The data contained within the EE0-1 Component 1 reports is “used by the EEOC to investigate charges of employment discrimination against employers in private industry and to publish periodic reports on workforce demographics.”
Employers determine their workforce size for reporting purposes by selecting a pay period in the fourth quarter (i.e. October 1-December 31) of the reporting year (workforce snapshot period). Workforce demographic data must include all full-time and part-time employees employed during the selected pay period.
*Beginning with the 2023 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection, if an employer meets the employee threshold for reporting purposes at any time during the fourth quarter of the reporting year, the employer is required to file an EEO-1 Component 1 report and may not select a workforce snapshot period where the employee count falls below the threshold in order to avoid the filing requirement.
Voluntary Reporting of Demographic Data of “Non-Binary” Employees
Employers may continue to voluntarily report demographic data for “non-binary” employees in the comments section of the report. This information should be prefaced with the following language, “Additional Non-Binary Employee Data.” For single establishment employers, this information should be reported in the Certification Comments section within the OFS. For multi-establishment employers, this data should be included in the Headquarters or Establishment-Level Comments section. Employers should not include “non-binary” employees in the other categories in the report (male or female, job category or race or ethnicity) if they choose to voluntarily report them in the comment sections described above.
The 2023 Instruction Booklet advises filers to follow the instructions for reporting race or ethnicity when deciding whether to report an employee as male, female, or “non-binary.” Voluntary self-identification by employees is the preferred method of identifying race, ethnicity and sex information required by the report. This process includes the following:
- Offering employees the opportunity to self-identify
- Providing a statement about the voluntary nature of self-identification to employees such as that proposed by the EEOC below:
“The employer is subject to certain governmental recordkeeping and reporting requirements for the administration of civil rights laws and regulations. In order to comply with these laws, the employer invites employees to voluntarily self-identify their race or ethnicity. Submission of this information is voluntary and refusal to provide it will not subject you to any adverse treatment. The information obtained will be kept confidential and may only be used in accordance with the provisions of applicable laws, executive orders, and regulations, including those that require the information to be summarized and reported to the federal government for civil rights enforcement. When reported, data will not identify any specific individual.” - If an employee declines to self-identify, employment records or observer identification may be used.
The 2023 Instruction Booklet provides that if the sex reported by the employee during the self-identification process differs from that which is recorded in the employee’s employment records, then the employer should report the employee’s self-identification.
Other Potential Changes
While not applicable to the 2023 reporting year, there may be changes to the race and ethnicity categories on the horizon for future EEO-1 Component 1 reports. The Society for Human Resource Management reports as follows:
The federal Office of Budget and Management (OMB) is expected to release new standards on reporting race and ethnicity by summer 2024, [Kimberly Essary, deputy chief data officer for the EEOC] said. One of the OMB’s initial proposals is to provide a separate category for people of Middle Eastern or North African descent.
Reporting Guidance for Remote/Teleworking Employees
Just as with the 2022 data reporting, employers are provided with guidance regarding reporting remote/telework employees.
The 2023 Instruction Booklet addresses a number of assignment situations for remote employees, and how each situation impacts the employer’s reporting requirements. Employers should review this guidance carefully to ensure all employees are included the employer’s EEO-1 Component 1 Report. The Instruction Booklet reiterates that temporary closure of a physical worksite will normally not affect how employees are counted, nor will the fact that most or all employees are teleworking, if such employees continue to be assigned to or report to a physical location or establishment. Most importantly, the Instruction Booklet stresses that “under no circumstances, should an employee’s home address be reported on any EEO-1 Component 1 submission or report.”
EEO-1 Component 1 Instructions and Data File Upload Specs
The 2023 EEO-1 Component 1 Instruction Booklet and Data File Upload Specifications are now available for employers at this link. Additional resources for employers can be found on the dedicated EEO-1 Component 1 website.
The EEO-1 Component 1 Report must be electronically submitted through the EE0-1- Component 1 Online Filing System (OFS). Employers have the option of manually inputting the data into the OFS portal, or uploading a data file containing the workforce demographic data by using the data file upload specifications.
Beginning April 30, 2024, the EEO-1 online Filer Support Message Center (help desk) will be available to assist filers with any questions regarding the 2023 data collection.
Next Steps
Employers should periodically check the dedicated EEO-1 Component 1 website for collection updates and supplementary resources as they become available, and stay ahead of the Tuesday, June, 4, 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 filing deadline.
Did you know that you can run the EEO-1 Component 1 Report in Checkwriters?
Remember, employers subject to EEO-1 Component 1 Data Reporting include private employers with 100 or more employees, including non-profits. You can run this report in Checkwriters for upload to the agency portal.
For more information on how to run the EEO-1 Component 1 Data report in Checkwriters, check in with your Client Support Specialist or refer to the EEO-1 Tutorial on the Checkwriters Knowledge Base.