Client Advisory

EEOC Revises EEO-1 Report
The EEOC recently approved proposed revisions to the Employer Information Report, also known as the EEO-1 Report. The EEO-1 Report is the primary means by which the government obtains generalized demographic information about the workforce of government contractors and other companies that employ 100 or more people.   A notice about the revisions to the EEO-1 Report has been published in the Federal Register, and the public has until December 28, 2005,  to submit comments to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  While the proposed changes will not be effective immediately, employers should understand these changes so that, beginning in 2006, they gather information to enable them to accurately complete the EEO-1 Report for the 2007 reporting cycle.

The final proposed revisions to the EEO-1 Report would alter certain important definitions, including the definitions of certain race and ethnic categories.  In particular, they:

• add a new category for individuals of "Two or more races - Not Hispanic or Latino;"
•  add a new category for "Asians - Not Hispanic or Latino" and separate "Asians" from "Pacific Islanders;"
•  add a new category for "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islanders - Not Hispanic or Latino;" and
•  rename the race category titled “Black” to “Black or African American.”

The changes also would alter the EEO-1 Report's definition of job categories.  In particular, they:

•  divide "Officials and Managers" into two categories based on the employees’ responsibilities and level of authority ("Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers" and "First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers"); and
•  move non-managerial business and financial occupations from the "Officials and Managers" category into the "Professionals" category.

In addition, the proposed changes strongly encourage employers to gather race and ethnic information through self identification methods, as opposed to using visual identification.  Employers continue to be required to inform employees that providing ethnic or racial information is strictly voluntary, and, when employees decline to self-identify, the proposed changes still permit employers to determine ethnic or racial data by visual identification.  Also, employers will be required to collect and report data by race and ethnicity for employees in Hawaii (currently, employers in Hawaii are required to report only gender data).

While employers will not be required to resurvey their workforces before submitting their first EEO-1 forms in the new format, the EEOC recommends that employers start now to look for opportunities to collect information consistent with the new categories.  For example, the EEOC suggests that employers routinely update employee personal information to obtain updated EEO-1 data.  The Commission also suggests that employers begin encouraging new employees to self-identify by reference to the new ethnic and racial categories.

Employers should consider classifying employees according to the Commission’s newly defined categories (for example, by altering application and intake forms for new employees), and should consider what system changes or processes need to be implemented to classify new employees correctly.  Specifically, employers should determine when and how they will begin to request that employees voluntarily self-identify their race and ethnicity under the revised race and ethnic categories, and they should define the process by which they will visually classify employees who have not self-identified.  In addition, employers should coordinate information systems to ensure that applicant and employee tracking processes are tailored to capture the data required for the ethnic and job categories in the new EEO-1 Report.

If you would like more information about the implications of the new EEO-1 Report or any affirmative action related matter, please contact Beth Schallop Call at (480) 588-6237.