EEO-1 pay data collection requirements back in effect

Dive Brief:

A federal district court judge has put EEO-1 pay data collection requirements back in effect, potentially just 12 weeks before employers' submissions are due (National Women's Law Center v. Office of Management and Budget, No. 17-cv-2458 (D.D.C. March 4, 2019)).
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) adopted the new requirements during the Obama administration, but President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) stayed the addition.
Employee advocates sued and on Monday, a federal district court agreed that OMB provided inadequate reasoning to support its decision to stay the data collection; "[T]he previous approval of the revised EEO-1 form shall be in effect," Judge Tanya S. Chutkan wrote. EEO-1 surveys initially were due this month but EEOC pushed the deadline to May 31 following the government shutdown.

Dive Insight:

Employers have long had to report data on race and gender, for example, but the pay data mandate was new this year. And despite OMB's stay, some experts recommended that employers cull that information anyway. There was always a chance the pay reporting requirements could come back in some form, Arthur Tacchino, chief innovation officer at SyncStream, previously told HR Dive.

It now seems likely that employers will have to report pay data this year. In fact, it's unlikely that EEOC could stop the reporting requirements for this reporting cycle even if it wanted to, according to Eric B. Meyer, a partner at FisherBroyles, LLP. "I don't think they have the authority to do that," he told HR Dive.

Instead, it could again delay the reporting deadline, Meyer said. "I don't think there's anything in the decision that would hold up the EEOC from changing deadlines," he said; it could "provide employers some extra time to aggregate this additional data." A delay seems likely, he said, especially considering that EEOC Acting Chair Victoria A. Lipnic has publicly opposed the reporting requirement.

Meyer said employers should watch for additional developments but, for now, "plan accordingly as if this is going to be a requirement for completing EEO-1," he said; "start collecting that pay data."