EEO-1 Filing Requirements Undergo Changes
By: MARY M. KRAKOW
December 2006
The Employer Information Report, commonly referred to as the EEO-1 report, must be filed annually by certain companies, including all banks with 100 or more employees and those banks with 50 or more employees that serve as a depository of Government funds in any amount, or are an issuing and paying agent for U.S. Savings Bonds and Notes.
Both the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) have used the EEO-1 report data since 1966. The EEOC, which is charged with enforcing the federal anti-discrimination statutes, uses the data to analyze employment patterns such as the representation of female and minority workers within companies, industries, and regions. The OFCCP, which is charged with enforcing the federal affirmative action regulations, uses the data to select federal contractors for compliance evaluations including, for example, on-site audits of a company’s facilities and its compliance with federal affirmative action requirements.
While the EEO-1 filing requirement is not new, the first changes to the EEO-1 report in 40 years will become effective in 2007. The 2007 EEO-1 report must be filed no later than September 30, 2007 in the same manner as previous reports. However, the 2007 report has been changed from the 2006 report, and companies will need to make changes in the way they report both the race/ethnicity of their employees and their job categories. The 2007 EEO-1 form expands the previous five race/ethnicity categories (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaskan Native) to seven (Hispanic/Latino, White, Black/African American, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, Asian, American Indian/Alaskan Native, and two or more races). The 2007 EEO-1 form also expands the number of job categories from nine to ten, subdividing the former “Officials and Managers” category into two: “Executive/Senior Level Officials” and “Managers and First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers.”
Another significant change beginning in 2007 is that employee self-identification is the preferred method for obtaining employee race and ethnic information. Employers must allow employees to self-identify their race/ethnicity and, when doing so, include language that submission of the information is voluntary. If an employee declines to self-identify, then employers may use employment records or visual identification to obtain the needed data. Employers should keep written self-identification forms separate from other employee personnel records and make them available only to individuals responsible for completing the EEO-1 report or other required governmental forms.
The 2007 report includes other changes as well, and covered employers should start planning now for these changes.