STATUS OF EEOC PAY EQUITY DATA COLLECTION

As reported in this newsletter last month, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled that the EEOC had to implement its requirement that employers file certain pay equity data as part of their EEO-1 Component 2 filing due on September 30 of this year.  The EEOC has already announced that the pay equity data component will not be required after this year, but there is still ongoing litigation as to the completion of the requirement for this year.  The EEOC has reported that approximately 81% of employers met the filing requirement of the pay equity data as of October 28, 2019.  Plaintiffs in the ongoing litigation have contended that the pay data requirement should remain open until over 98% of businesses with 100 or more workers have submitted their pay equity data.  The EEOC contends that sufficient filings have been made to close the first-time requirement.  On October 29, the same federal judge ruled that the EEOC must continue to collect the pay data from employers with 100 or more workers.  The rationale was that the agency had previously left the collection period open past the deadline, so now the judge wants the EEOC to at least collect the average response rate it calculates for those who submit data within the grace period rather than the normal deadline. 

The ruling directs the EEOC to keep the filing period open similar to the manner it has in the past, so that the federal judge can determine when the EEOC's responsibility to collect the pay equity data ceases.  The court order said the EEOC "must continue to take all steps necessary" to complete the data collection by January 31, 2020.  This suggests the possibility that there may be follow-up with those employers with 100 or more employees that have not yet filed the pay equity Component 2 Report.  However, there are no automatic fines or penalties for not filing.