BREAKING: Pay Data Rules Placed on Hold for EEO-1 Form

By Jo Bennett

The new rules announced in late 2016 revising the Employer Information EEO-1 report on pay data collection have been placed on hold.

On August 29, 2017, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) informed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that OMB had initiated “a review and immediate stay of the effectiveness of those aspects of the EEO-1 form that were revised on September 29, 2016. These revisions include new requests for data on wages and hours worked from employers with 100 or more employees, and federal contractors with 50 or more employees. EEOC may continue to use the previously approved EEO-1 form to collect data on race/ethnicity and gender during the review and stay.”

The EEOC also announced: “The previously approved EEO-1 form which collects data on race, ethnicity and gender by occupational category will remain in effect. Employers should plan to comply with the earlier approved EEO-1 (Component 1) by the previously set filing date of March 2018.”

Read the EEOC announcement here and the OMB memo here.

Although many companies and their Human Resources teams no doubt are relieved that OMB has put on hold what many viewed as a burdensome data collection, employers should continue to be vigilant on compensation issues.  The EEOC’s strategic enforcement plan for 2017- 2021 continues the agency’s focus on gender-based pay discrimination in particular, and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which has jurisdiction over federal contractors, continues its collection of detailed compensation data during compliance evaluations.