The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed civil lawsuits against 15 different companies for not submitting required data collection, the EEO-1 Component 1. This workforce demographic data is so important to the EEOC that it is taking the businesses to court to make them comply. The employers are from a wide range of industries, including retail, restaurant, construction, and more. The lawsuits span 10 states. Learn more about this report and how to avoid a lawsuit.
What is the EEO-1 Component 1 report?
As part of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOC was tasked with collecting data on an annual basis, about employment demographics, job category, sex, race and/or ethnicity. Title VII only calls for private businesses with more than 100 employees or federal contractors with more than 50 employees to provide this data. This data has been collected since 1966, for almost 60 years. Today, the data is submitted annually. Individual reports are confidential, but the EEOC uses the collective data to publish reports about workforce demographics and to investigate charges of discrimination.
Mandatory, with a legal obligation to submit this data by the deadline
The EEOC gets its authority to require this data under Section 709(c) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 United States Code (U.S.C.) 2000e, et seq. and Sections 1602.7-1602.14, Chapter XIV, Title 29 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); Exec. Order No. 11246, 30 FR 12319 (Sept. 24, 1965) and 40 CFR 60-1.7(a). It is mandatory. The EEOC is authorized by Congress to go to court to make employers comply.
If your business received notice to file from the EEOC, you have until June 4, 2024 to submit data. The 15 companies that were sued were behind several years. To avoid risking a lawsuit with the EEOC, make sure to get your data in soon. The EEOC offers many resources to help businesses comply with their EEO data collection.