Member Article

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) announced on March 29, 2021 that qualifying employers should file 2019 and 2020 workplace diversity data, known as the EEO-1 Component 1 data, by July 19, 2021. The data collection will open on April 26, 2021. Employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees should begin preparing to submit the data in anticipation of this opening.

Background

The EEOC has collected workforce data from qualifying employers for over 50 years. The data is collected using reports such as EEO-1 Component 1, which includes demographic information on employees’ race, gender, and ethnicity by job category. The collected data is used for a variety of purposes including enforcement, self-assessment by employers, and research. Although individually identifiable data is confidential, aggregated data by industry group is available to the public.

Submission of Two Years of Data

On May 7, 2020, the EEOC announced the delay of the 2019 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection in light of the COVID-19 public health emergency. Consequently, EEO-1 filers will have to submit data for calendar years 2019 and 2020 in this year’s data collection.

Extended Filing Period

Recognizing the increased burden of submitting data for two years and the continuing impact of the pandemic on workplaces nationwide, the EEOC has extended the collection period from 10 weeks to 12 weeks this year.

Resources for EEO-1 Filers

When the collection opens, more resources and information regarding any updates on the data collection will be available on a new dedicated website for the EEOC’s data collections. The EEOC Filer Support Team will also be available to respond to inquiries from filers.