Feds extend EEO-1 Component 1 data collection deadline

UPDATE: May 27, 2022: The EEOC has extended the deadline to submit and certify the EEO-1 Component 1 filing to Tuesday, June 21. “Once the June 21, 2022 deadline passes, no additional 2021 EEO-1 Component 1 Reports will be accepted, and eligible filers will be out of compliance with their mandatory 2021 EEO-1 Component 1 filing obligation,” the agency said in an update.

Dive Brief:

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today opened 2021 data collection reporting for its Employment Information Report (EEO-1), Standard Form 100, Component 1. The filing deadline is May 17, 2022, EEOC said.
Generally, private employers with at least 100 employees must submit an EEO-1 Component 1 report. So must federal contractors with 50 or more employees.
The window for reporting has been shortened significantly compared to the last two years, with HR given a little over one month to complete the form.

Dive Insight:

The EEO-1 report has had a tumultuous few years: 2020 and 2021 saw the EEO-1 reporting deadline extended multiple times due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In 2018, the agency added a controversial pay data collection segment, Component 2. The EEOC hoped the data would "improve investigations of possible pay discrimination, which remains a contributing factor to persistent wage gaps," according to its release announcing the change. At a hearing following the decision, employers complained of the administrative burden Component 2 created.

In 2017, the White House's Office of Management and Budget blocked the collection of Component 2, but a federal district court judge put it back in effect in 2019. However, EEOC opted not to collect Component 2 after 2019, having concluded that it "insufficiently calculated" the document's burden.

There has been some conjecture on whether the EEOC will require pay data collection again in the future. The agency has not advanced a strategy for systematically collecting pay data since it ended Component 2, potentially a result of a right-leaning quorum that has been in place since May 2019. More recently, it has concentrated its efforts on pay discrimination lawsuits and "outreach sessions," according to a recent letter from EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows in recognition of Equal Pay Day.