EEO-1 Reports: An Employer's Guide
Every year the United States Equal Opportunity Employment Commission mandates employers submit a compliance survey called the EEO-1, which collects employee data regarding race, gender, ethnicity, and job type or level.
Introduction
Every year the United States Equal Opportunity Employment Commission mandates employers submit a compliance survey called the EEO-1, which collects employee data regarding race, gender, ethnicity, and job type/level.
The data has been used since 1966 to enforce civil rights, as well as monitor and analyze patterns in employment demographics. Currently, the report is only regularly accepted through the internet, though rare exceptions are made for businesses with no web access.
EEO-1 Compliance Survey for Employers
Download a copy of the yearly mandated EEO-1 Compliance Survey.
Who Must File & How Data is Collected
The EEOC requires an EEO-1 form from any business that has 100+ employees or if there are 100+ employees between the business and any corporate ownership (parent company or corporation that owns all or a majority of the stock) or affiliates. Federal contractors are also required to submit an EEO-1 form each year if they employ 50 or more people per year and have been contracted for $50,000 or more (or, alternatively if they have not been contracted for $50,000 per year -- if they serve as a depository of Government funds or are a financial institution that deals in U.S. Savings Bonds and Savings Notes). This includes both full and part-time employees, as well as remote employees.
Employers are not allowed to assume or guess an employee’s ethnicity. The EEOC requires that employers give employees a chance to self-identify before they use employment records.
The data must be collected from only one pay period in either October, November, or December of the current survey year.
However, there are some exceptions. Only entities within the 50 United States and Washington D.C. are required to report -- entities located in other territories such as Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands are exempt. Additionally, a select group of organization types is exempt as well. Those organizations are as follows:
- State governments
- Local governments
- Public primary school systems
- Secondary school systems
- Institutions of higher education
- American native tribes
- Alaskan native tribes
- Tax-exempt private membership clubs other than labor organizations
Any business entity that meets the requirements and does not qualify for exemption must file with the EEOC office of Enterprise Data and Analytics Employer Data Team and must be certified yearly by May 31st.
However, exemptions may be made for entities that meet all of the requirements but decide to claim that the process of preparation and filing would create an undue hardship. In that case, the employer can apply for a special exemption which, if approved, will most likely result in an extended special deadline.
Additionally, if your company has filed for bankruptcy, you may be eligible to be removed from the list as well -- you can contact the EEOC Employer Data Team by calling 1-866-286-6440.
Multi-Establishment Companies & Types of Reports
Depending on whether or not your business is a single-establishment company or a multi-establishment company, it could need to file various types of reports.
How do you know which is which? A single establishment company only operates from one location (such as a store or office) and only needs to file a single, standard Type 1 data report. However, a multi-establishment company (which operates from several locations, branches, or franchises) is required to submit several types which could include:
- A Type 2 Consolidated Report: This report includes all employees across the company, employed at all locations.
- A Type 3 Headquarters Report: This report includes all employees who work out of company headquarters.
- A Type 4 Establishment Report: Multi-establishment companies are required to submit a Type 4 report for every location that employs more than 50 employees (such as a store location, a chain franchise, a second office, a training center, etc).
A Type 8 Establishment Report or a Type 6 Establishment List: When reporting any site with 50 or fewer employees, you have the option to choose between a Type 8 and a Type 6 report. If you have already included the data of all employees organized by race, gender, ethnicity, and job status in your Type 2 Consolidated List then you only need a Type 6 Establishment List. If you haven’t, you can fill out a Type 8 and the information will automatically transfer to your Type 2 form. It’s important to remember that these forms are only for locations with 50 or fewer employees.
A Special Note About Client Sites & Remote Workers:
A lot of employers find themselves confused about establishment locations when it comes time to file their EEO-1s, especially if their employees travel to client-owned locations for work such as when a contractor travels to a construction site or a janitor travels to a cleaning location. Do you list the employee at the client-owned site, or do you list the employee at a standard employee address? Employers have been doing both, and because of the current confusion, the EEOC is not issuing a standard protocol while it considers which is the best avenue to take.
As for remote workers, things are a little more straightforward -- you simply report them to the site at which they report. If the supervisor they report to works at your headquarters, then they belong to the headquarters report. Otherwise, list them on one of the establishment reports or lists.
About Reconciliation Reports
When reporting locations with 50 employees or less, if you decide to choose a Type 6 Establishment List instead of a Type 8 Establishment Report, then you’ll also be presented with a Reconciliation Report as a way to track any errors or conflicts in your survey. The Reconciliation Report will verify that your Type 6 Establishment List aligns with your Type 2 report, as well as the rest of your reports. In the case it doesn’t, it won’t allow you to certify and you will not be able to proceed with your submission.
Warning Messages You May Encounter
Because filing the EEO-1 is a complicated process, there are a number of errors or other situations that can occur which will trip system warnings. Here are a few you hopefully won’t encounter, and what will have caused them in the case that you do.
Verify Repeated Addresses
You may have two entities located at the same address, sharing the same building which requires separate reports. This is entirely acceptable, however, if you repeat an address more than once on several different forms (for instance, once on a Type 4 Establishment Report and then again on a Type 6 Establishment List), you’ll receive a pop-up asking you to confirm that the information is correct. It’s simply a safeguard to make sure there wasn’t an error. Confirm the information and move on.
“You deleted 25% or more of your company’s establishments, you must contact the EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee immediately at 866-286-6440 (toll-free) or E1.TECHASSISTANCE@EEOC.GOV”
Unfortunately, if you’ve deleted more than 25% of your company’s establishments, you won’t be able to certify your report. The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission will want an explanation of the removal before any certification is allowed, and you’ll have to contact them via one of the methods in the pop-ups.
Invalid Location in U.S. Protectorate Popup
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission doesn’t collect data from entities outside of the 50 states in the United States and Washington D.C., so if you accidentally submitted data from somewhere else, such as Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands, you’ll get a pop-up informing you that this information is neither required nor accepted.
Confirm More than 1,000 Employees Popup
Any time you enter more than 1,000 employees for a particular location, the system will want to verify with you that this information is not a mistake. If you indicate it is a mistake, it will allow you to add these names to a new establishment
Potential Legal Ramifications
Assuming that your corporation falls within the EEO-1 requirement range, the law requires that you file on time and that you keep a copy of your most recent Standard Form 100 “Employer Information Report EEO-1” available for reference at the company or divisional headquarters. There’s always a chance an officer of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission may come asking to view it during an investigation, legal matter, or another case.
If you fail to report, you will most likely be compelled by a U.S. District Court to file late.
It’s also important to be aware that you should never simply guess at answers on your report, and absolutely not lie about the facts. Knowingly falsifying or misrepresenting information on your EEO-1 is a crime and could result in fines and jail/prison time.
Because potential lawsuits and investigations will relate to other employment documentation, the EEOC also requires that your business keep all employment-related documentation for a period of at least one year after its creation. This includes records of hiring, pay, promotion and demotion, termination, and any other documentation that may have involved the employee. And if a charge involving an employee is ever filed, it is illegal to remove those files whatsoever.
Remember, if you don’t click certify at the end of your submission, it will not be submitted and you will not be in compliance. Always click certify when you are finished.
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