What is an EEO-1 Report? “It is the annual report that provides information on employees by ethnicity, race, gender, and job category.” Richele K. Taylor explained in a recent BLR webinar. The EEO-1 report is essentially an employee census listed by ethnic/race category and by gender. It must be submitted to the EEOC’s Joint Reporting Committee by September 30. They use it to compile statistics and identify trends.
EEO-1 Reports: Are They Required by Law?
Filing the EEO-1 report is required by Title VII, but there’s no penalty for not filing. That said, the EEOC can ask a court to issue an order directing that it be filed.
“If you haven’t been filing, go ahead and file this year. Most of the time, they don’t ask you for past reports. If they catch you, they ask you for that year if you haven’t been filing.” Taylor advised.
The exception is for federal contractors. “If you’re a federal contractor, meaning you have a contract with the federal government (such as the Department of Defense), or if you’re a sub-contractor, you can have your contract removed if you aren’t filing these reports. It is required.” Taylor warned.
EEO-1 Reports: What is Included?
These reports must include:
- Whether the business is a single establishment or multi-establishment.
- The number of employees by race and ethnicity and sex, listed under each job category.
- Certification and any remarks. This lets the organization explain changes if necessary, and it can also be good for the organization’s own recordkeeping.
Single establishment or multi-establishment?
For the purposes of filing an EEO-1 report, an establishment is an economic unit producing goods or services, such as a factory, a store, an office, or a mine. It is usually one location engaging in one type of economic activity.
Determining whether an organization is a single-establishment or multi-establishment organization is sometimes straightforward, but there are some gray areas in this determination. One example of where it can be tricky is where there is a corporate office on the same grounds as another part of the company, but in different buildings. Typically that would be two establishments, because they have separate types of activities. The reason this is an issue is because more than one report may be required when there are multiple establishments.
In the case of multi-establishments, the principal or headquarters report should be filed first. Then, for each establishment with 50 or more employees, a separate report should be filed. For locations with less than 50 employees, there are two types of reports to choose from: Type 6 records and Type 8 records.
- A Type 6 record is essentially a list. It shows the name of each location and the total number of employees there. Then, one spreadsheet can be used that lists the data for all employees at all locations combined.
- A Type 8 record is the same as the report required for establishments with more than 50 employees. Some employers may find this preferable, rather than creating different types of reports for different locations.
When filing your EEO-1 reports for multiple establishments online, the system should create a consolidated report for you when you’re finished. The totals should add up and everything should be included in that consolidated report.
Number of employees by race, and ethnicity, and sex.
When determining the number of employees, some employers wonder what employment figures should be used, since the total number of employees may fluctuate throughout the year. For EEO-1 reports, employers should use employment figures from any single pay period between July and September of the survey year.
“They want you to use employment figures from one pay period between July and September. You can pick—you’ve got a range of dates. That also tells you they’re trying to get the information as close to September 30th as possible so that you generally would have the same information every year. That’s just for consistency’s sake. They want it to be in that similar time frame.” Taylor noted. “Most people can pull that information from whatever service they use to collect their payroll data.”
The next question employers often ask is how to determine the ethnicity and race of their employees and where to store such information. Typically this information can be found by asking the employees via a survey.
“You’re going to have to do a survey and ask your employees to self-identify. Most people do a voluntary self-identification form and put it in with their new hire forms so that when an employee comes on, they’re requesting that information up front. And then they update their internal data at that time.” Taylor told us.
“Your HRIS system usually has a place to hold that, or your payroll. Most of these systems are used to collect that information and have a provision in the software to do so. But some people still have to keep it on spreadsheets or other forms and manually update everything.” Taylor explained.
If someone refuses to complete the survey, employers are allowed to observe their ethnicity or race. While this isn’t the preferred method, it is allowed.
For more information on EEO-1 reports, 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.