With part of the allowed data collection window already closed, have you begun preparing for the new EEO-1 report due September 30? Here’s Part 1 of a 2-part article on what you need to know and need to do to comply.
It must feel like Times Square on New Year’s Eve down at the U.S. Labor Department. The countdown is in full swing, and the excitement is building, as everyone waits for a change it took 40 years to make.
The change, of course, is the new EEO-1 report, which the employers of more than 50 million workers must file by September 30, a deadline now just 60 days away.
The EEO-1 requires employers with 100 or more workers, federal contractors with 50 or more workers and $50,000 or more in federal business, and some financial organizations, regardless of size, to annually report the racial and ethnic composition of their workforce. The data are used to assess diversity in the American workplace and to pinpoint industries that lag in progress toward that goal.
Learn all the implications of the new EEO-1 from three experts at our special August 7 audio conference on the changes. Can’t attend? Preorder the CD. Read more.
To comply, employers must analyze their workforce as it exists during one payroll period between July and September, which means part of your window for doing so has already closed. The form asks for the number of workers in each category, and then asks how many in each group hold management roles.
You obtain your employees’ racial/ethnic identity one of two ways: Though it’s permitted to guess by “visual identification,” the government much prefers that you actually ask them … a process called “self-identification.” There’s even a preferred way to do this, which we’ll get to shortly.
First, though, here’s how the racial/ethnic section of the new form has changed from that used since 1966:
–The number of racial/ethnic categories has been increased from 5 to 7. The additions were made by adding a new category, “Two or More Races,” to accommodate those of mixed racial background, and by splitting the former “Asian or Pacific Islander” into “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.”
–Two categories have been renamed. “Black” is now “Black or African American,” and “Hispanic” is now “Hispanic or Latino.”
More important, the government is not demanding that you resurvey your entire workforce for the 2007 report, only new hires. You can continue to identify the rest as you have before, simply transposing them into the new or changed categories as needed. However, the Labor Department recommends that you do resurvey them.
How do you legally ask about race or ethnicity? Officials suggest a “two-question format”:
–First ask workers if they are Hispanic or Latino. If so, no further identification is needed for the EEO-1.
–If not, next ask them to choose which race or ethnic category they identify with from the list on the form.
Before asking, however, give assurances that the information will be used only for group statistical purposes, will never trigger any adverse actions, will be held confidential on an individual basis, and is completely voluntary.
All BLR audio conferences are provided, satisfaction assured, or you get a prompt refund. Attend the August 7 EEO-1 conference with confidence. Click to register or to preorder a CD.
If you can’t get voluntary cooperation, you can then make your best guess. But, says Carol Miaskoff, the Labor Department lawyer who led development of the new form, “we expect [employers] to ask more than once before resorting to other measures.”
We’ll deal with the second major dimension of the EEO-1 changeover … the new ways to report management/nonmanagement status in tomorrow’s Daily Advisor.
Meanwhile, we’d like to mention that if you really want to make sure your EEO-1 compliance is complete, consider attending (or if you can’t, then preordering the CD for) a very special BLR EEO-1 audio conference on Tuesday, August 7. See the announcement below for details on this important event.
Keep Up with the Changes in EEO-1 Reporting with a Special Audio Conference!
The yearly EEO-1 report you have to file just 60 days from now has changed. As has the data collection process you should be doing right now. How? Listen in on a special BLR audio conference on August 7 and find out. One fee admits your entire staff! Or if you can’t attend, preorder a CD. Read more.