Dive Brief:

• Amid a lengthy delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced Jan. 12 it will open four EEO data collections this year.
• The first set of collections — encompassing EEO-1 Component 1 data collection for 2019 and 2020 — will open in April. EEOC said it would announce precise opening dates as well as submission deadlines in future notices posted to its website, but the agency also said filers should begin preparations to submit data. Notification letters will be sent to eligible filers, per the statement.
• EEOC said it would open 2020 EEO-5 data collection for public elementary and secondary school districts in July, 2020 EEO-3 data collection for local referral unions in August and 2021 EEO-4 data collection for state and local governments in October.

Dive Insight:

The original delay, announced by EEOC in May 2020, aimed to allow filers to be "better positioned to provide accurate, valid and reliable data in a timely manner," the agency said.

The EEO-1 report collects employment data organized by race and ethnicity, gender and job category. Companies subject to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with 100 or more employees are required to submit Component 1 information, as are those with fewer than 100 or employees if they are owned by or corporately affiliated with another company or enterprise that employs 100 or more employees in total. Certain federal contractors are also required to file.

Notably, this week's announcement did not provide an update on the agency's pay data collection efforts. EEOC had required employers to report pay data under EEO-1 Component 2 for the 2017 and 2018 calendar years, but after a lengthy and controversial saga, the agency decided in 2019 not to renew its Component 2 collection.

EEOC previously indicated that it could have proposed a new form of pay data collection as soon as September 2020 after receiving input on the subject from a commissioned report by the National Academy of Science. Later, it said in July 2020 that it would enlist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine's Committee on National Statistics to analyze 2017 and 2018 Component 2 data by the end of 2021.

But as September came to a close, the agency's update on future pay data collection never materialized; instead, it said in its fall regulatory agenda it is considering an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to seek public comment on the issue by October 2021.

Stagnation of pay data collection at the federal level has not stopped state governments from enacting similar regulations. California announced in October that private employers in the state subject to EEO-1 reporting requirements would also be required to submit a pay data report to California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing on or before March 31, 2021.