On Jan. 29, 2016, – in addition to the commemoration of the seventh anniversary of the passing of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act – the Equal Employment Opportunity Council and the U.S. Department of Labor proposed that EEO-1 reports must include pay by gender, race and ethnicity. Employers and federal contractors with more than 100 employees will have to submit these documents by or before Sep. 17, 2017.
What is the purpose of the change?
The information included in EEO-1 forms gives the federal government various data regarding pay discrepancies in private sector employment due to discriminatory practices based on race, ethnicity, sex and job category.
More than 50 years after pay discrimination became illegal it remains a persistent problem for too many Americans," said EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang "This information will assist employers in evaluating their pay practices to prevent pay discrimination and strengthen enforcement of our federal anti-discrimination laws."
The EEOC aims to compile and publish collected data to assist businesses in analyzing and identifying noncompliant pay practices in a voluntary manner. The EEOC and the Office of the Federal Contract Compliance Programs of the Department of Labor would then be able to better focus their investigations of certain businesses, assess complaints and claims of discrimination and discover pay disparities that require further exploration.
"The alteration to the EEO-1 form will require advanced planning and preparation by employers."
Requirements for employers
The alteration to the EEO-1 form will require advanced planning and preparation by employers if the proposal goes into effect. Companies should familiarize themselves with the potential pay data collection form, which has already been released by the EEOC. By taking a look at the document today, businesses and their human resources teams will be less surprised by the requirements if the guideline is passed. The document will ask organizations to include the number of workers of different races, genders and ethnicities that fall into into a series of 12 compensation groups and the amount of hours worked by those employees.
In addition, the EEOC change will obligate employers to develop and implement a system for for tracking information related to pay ranges and hours of workers. Companies will also have to distribute that data to people to comply with new reporting necessities.
Since this modification affects businesses across the country, companies are encouraged to send their comments by April 1, 2016. Organizations can submit their suggestions online to http://www.regulations.gov or by fax to (202) 663-4114. Companies are also welcome to send their comments via mail to Bernadette Wilson, Acting Executive Officer, Executive Secretariat, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 131 M Street NE., Washington, DC 20507. The EEOC will also hold a public forum on the proposed changes at a time and place to be decided. After that, the Commission will partner with the OFCCP to vote on a final version of the revised EEOC form and send it to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval.