On September 11, 2019, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced a new notice of information collection regarding the Employer Information Report (EEO-1). Through the 60-day notice, the EEOC is seeking authorization to continue collecting EEO-1 Component 1 data for another three years. The notice, does not, however, request authorization for the collection of Component 2 data. The new notice also does not affect employers’ obligations to report 2017 and 2018 Component 2 data by the deadline of September 30, 2019.
The 60-day notice invites the public to comment on the proposal to continue collecting Component 1 data, which the EEOC has been collecting since 1966 pursuant to its requirement on employers to report employee data by job category, ethnicity, race, and sex. The EEOC made its first request for authorization from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect Component 2 data in 2016.
Burden Analysis
The 2016 request to OMB provided a burden analysis supporting the EEOC’s request for permission to collect Component 1 and 2 data. The most recent notice updated this burden analysis with regard to Component 1.
The new analysis differs from the 2016 analysis by considering the size of employers and the number of reports they are required to file. According to the EEOC’s announcement
Since multi-establishment employers are generally required to file reports for each of their locations (subject to size limitations) plus a headquarters and consolidated report, the amount of effort that multi-establishment employers must expend to comply with the EEO-1 data collection requirements is often greater than the effort expended by a single-establishment employer. This burden is magnified by the number of data fields required in a single Component 2 report (3,360 fields) versus a single Component 1 report (140 data fields).
After considering “the total number of reports submitted by report type and file types,” the EEOC estimated an average burden. Under the new methodology, the EEOC’s new estimates for the burden associated with submitting Component 1 and 2 data is $614 million for 2017 and $622 million for 2018—increased from its 2016 estimate of $53.5 million for both 2017 and 2018. According to the EEOC’s announcement, “the proven utility of Component 1 to EEOC’s mission justifies its continued collection” despite the increased burden:
Component 1 EEO-1 data serves as a valuable resource for EEOC’s analysis of industries and regions as well as for investigators in assessing allegation of discrimination. Therefore, the EEOC believes that the continued collection of Component 1 is necessary for the proper performance of the agency’s functions and fulfillment of the agency’s mission.
The notice will be published in the Federal Register on September 12, 2019. According to the EEOC’s announcement, at the end of the 60-day comment period, the agency will publish a 30-day notice in the Federal Register and submit a request to renew its authorization to collect Component 1 data to OMB. If OMB approves this request, the EEOC will notify employers and provide further instructions.
