EEO-1 reports are required as part of Title VII. They are required to be submitted annually by September 30 to the EEOC’s Joint Reporting Committee. The EEO-1 report provides information on employees by ethnicity, race, gender, and job category, which allows the EEOC to assess trends in the workplace.
Are You Required to File an EEO-1 Report?
“If you are covered by Title VII (which, if you have 15 or more employees, you are covered), and you have 100 or more employees, and you are not a state or local government, a school, or an Indian tribe, you are required to file an EEO-1.” Richele K. Taylor told us in a recent BLR webinar.
This does not mean that state and local governments are exempt altogether; instead, state and local governments have their own reporting requirements that are separate. They still must collect and report information, it’s just not for an EEO-1 report.
Even if you have less than 100 employees, there are also other times you will be required to file:
- If you are covered by Title VII and have fewer than 100 employees, but are owned by or affiliated with another company and together have 100 or more employees, you need to file an EEO-1 report.
- If you are a federal contractor and have 50 or more employees and a prime federal contract (which means you contract directly with the federal government) worth at least $50,000 annually, you need to file.
- If you have 50 or more employees and you are a first-tier subcontractor with the federal government (which means you have a contract with the party who is contracting with the government) of at least $50,000 annually, then you must file.
- If you are a federal contractor and have 50 or more employees and (1) serve as a depository of government funds in any amount or (2) are a financial institution that issues and pays for U.S. Savings Bonds and U.S. Savings Notes, then you are required to file.
Are You Required to File an EEO-1 Report? How Do You Count Employees?
Since the number of employees is one of the primary determining factors in whether you are required to file an EEO-1 report, it becomes important to understand which employees to count. For these purposes, an employee is an individual on an employer’s payroll, including part-time, who is an employee for purposes of the employer’s withholding Social Security taxes. This does not include persons hired on a casual basis for a specified time or for the duration of a specified job.
“Generally, if you have 100 or more employees, you’re going to meet the requirement. If you have less than 100 employees, you need to think about whether another exception applies to you that would make you required to file that report.” Taylor advised.
“For example, if you’re a federal contractor it’s going to reduce that number to 50 or more employees in combination with a $50,000 contract. Or, being a bank or holding a depository of government funds or bonds. Or if you are an affiliate, where your personal company (or the one you work for) may not have 100 employees, but you’re affiliated with another company that really should be counted together to create that 100.”
With all of these requirements in mind, also note there are exceptions: establishments in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other American protectorates are not required to file.
For more information on who must file an EEO-1 report, order the webinar recording of “EEO-1 Reporting Deadline: HR’s Step-by-Step Guide to Ensuring Compliance.” To register for a future webinar, visit http://store.blr.com/events/webinars.
Attorney Richele K. Taylor is Of Counsel with the law firm of Fisher & Phillips LLP. She has successfully represented employers in state and federal courts, and before administrative agencies on a variety of issues, such as Title VII, the FMLA, ADEA, breach of contract and wrongful termination claims.