EEO-1 Filing Platform Set to Open on April 12 With Abbreviated Filing Deadline of May 17: What’s the Rush?

Though the 2021 EEO-1 landing page labels the opening and closing dates for the 2021 EEO-1 filing cycle as “tentative,” the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has notified prior filers that the 2021 filing platform will “officially open” on April 12, 2022, and close on May 17, 2022. This approximate five-week period is significantly shorter than prior filing periods. Meanwhile, during a webinar on March 29, 2022, EEOC representatives disclosed that the EEOC plans to close the 2021 EEO-1 filing platform on June 21, 2022. While this schedule could change as 2021 filings proceed, this proposed timetable suggests that the EEOC intends to conclude 2021 filings on an abbreviated schedule compared to prior EEO-1 filing windows.

Filings for the EEOC’s 2021 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection should be less complicated than the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 filings, which posed several obstacles, including a new filing platform, paper-mailed login information, a requirement of filing two years of reports, and the abandonment of the new platform’s mergers and acquisition system deep into last year’s filing cycle. An unresolved question exists as to whether the revised process for handling 2019 and 2020 mergers, acquisitions, and spinoffs means that all transactions from the 2019 and 2020 filing cycles are resolved. This is a concern because of the deluge of business activity during 2019 and 2020, including COVID-19–related business disruptions in early 2020. If the EEOC did not process the mergers, acquisitions, and spinoffs noted in the comments section of the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 reports, employers could receive late-filing or failure-to-file notices for an entity that should not file based on a merger, acquisition, or spinoff. In that case, employers would have to log into the EEO-1 filing platform on behalf of the entity and certify that the entity does not require an EEO-1 filing.

Based on the compressed 2021 EEO-1 filing period, employers that must file EEO-1 filings may want to consider updating their EEO-1 login credentials, confirming they have access to the filing site, gathering filing data, and filing as soon as possible, in light of the May 17, 2022, data collection deadline.

Ogletree Deakins will continue to monitor and report on developments with respect to these compliance requirements and will post updates on the Affirmative Action / OFCCP and Government Contractors blogs. Important information for employers is also available via the firm’s webinar and podcast programs.