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Mary M. Krakow

Mary M. Krakow Employment & Labor

mkrakow@fredlaw.com
612.492.7164
Printable Version

EEO-1 Filing Requirements Undergo Changes

By: MARY M. KRAKOW

September 2006

All private companies with 100 or more employees and all companies subject to the federal affirmative action requirements must annually file the Employer Information Report, commonly referred to as the EEO-1 report. The federal affirmative action requirements apply to all companies with 50 or more employees and that (1) are a prime contractor or first-tier subcontractor on a federal government contract of $50,000 or more, (2) serve as a depository of Government funds in any amount, or (3) are a financial institution which is 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 enforces 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 enforces 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, and covered employers should start planning now for these changes.

The 2006 EEO-1 Report

Covered employers should continue to use the same procedures for filing their 2006 EEO-1 report as they have used in previous years, i.e., filing an EEO-1 report electronically no later than September 30, 2006, and using employment numbers from one of the company’s payrolls during July through September. (The EEO-1 filing web site can be found at www.eeoc.gov--click on EEO-1 Survey.) Paper filings are accepted only in extreme cases where Internet access is not available to the employer.

The 2006 EEO-1 report must include a numerical breakdown of the company’s workforce by gender, five race/ethnicity categories, and nine job categories. Information regarding job applicants is not reported.

All employees must be reported in one of the following five race/ethnicity categories:

  • White (not of Hispanic origin) – All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East;
  • Black (Not of Hispanic origin) – All persons having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa;
  • Hispanic – All peoples of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race;
  • Asian or Pacific Islander – All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, or the Pacific Islands; and
  • American Indian or Alaskan Native – All persons having origins in any of the original peoples of North America, and who maintain cultural identification through tribal affiliation or community recognition.

Covered employers with federal affirmative action obligations must obtain race/ethnicity information from job applicants to complete the company’s required written affirmative action programs and are allowed to use the same race/ethnicity tracking data for employees when filing the EEO-1 report. Currently, covered employers that are not federal affirmative action employers are strongly discouraged from eliciting the needed race/ethnicity information directly from employees. Instead, they may acquire race/ethnicity information by visual surveys of the work force or from post-employment records.

The current nine job categories for reporting employees on the EEO-1 form include:

  • Officials and Managers,
  • Professionals,
  • Technicians,
  • Sales,
  • Office and Clerical,
  • Craft Workers (skilled),
  • Operatives (semi-skilled),
  • Laborers (unskilled), and
  • Service Workers.

The 2007 EEO-1 Report

The 2007 EEO-1 report must be filed no later than September 30, 2007, in the same manner as previous reports, except that the 2007 report will require companies to change the way they report both the race/ethnicity of their employees and their job categories.

For 2007, employers must use the following race/ethnicity categories and, for the first time, must allow employees to self-identify in more than one race:

Ethnicity:

  • Hispanic or Latino – A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race;

Race:

  • White (not Hispanic or Latino) – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East;
  • Black or African American (Not Hispanic or Latino) – A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa;
  • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Not Hispanic or Latino) – A person having origins in any of the peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands;
  • Asian (Not Hispanic or Latino) – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian Subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam;
  • American Indian or Alaskan Native (Not Hispanic or Latino) – A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community recognition; and
  • Two or More Races (Not Hispanic or Latino) – All persons who identify with more than one of the above five races.

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 EEO-1 form also expands the number of job categories from nine to ten by subdividing the current “Officials and Managers” category into two levels based on responsibility and influence:

  • Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers – Individuals who plan, direct and formulate policy, set strategy and provide overall direction; and
  • First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers – Individuals who oversee day-to-day operations and direct implementation or operations within specific parameters set by Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers.

In addition, employers will need to include business and financial occupations in the Professionals category, rather than in the former Officials and Managers, to allow for better tracking of the mobility of women and minorities within the two levels of Officials and Managers.

The other eight job categories remain the same as in previous years.

Employers with questions regarding their 2006 or 2007 EEO-1 reporting obligations are encouraged to contact their employment counsel.