Last month, a federal district court in the case of National Women’s Law Center et al. v. Office of Management and Budget et al., ruled that the EEOC’s pay data collection provisions requiring covered employers to report pay data by race, ethnicity and gender) were to be immediately reinstated. The court provided the EEOC opportunity to inform the Court of a timeline for reinstatement. Yesterday, the EEOC informed the court that the earliest the agency is prepared to collect the data is September 30, 2019, and only if a third party vendor is able to assist the agency in the collection. The EEOC informed the court of significant data quality control and cost concerns associated with the proposed time frame. The plaintiffs in the case will now have the opportunity to respond. It is clear the EEOC is not equipped to collect data by May 31, 2019, and intends to delay until at least September 30, 2019. Employers should submit the Component 1 EEO-1 report data by May 31st. Component 2 (equal pay) data may need to be submitted at a later date, depending on the court’s decision. It also remains to be seen if the court’s decision will be appealed. In the meantime, covered employers should collect the equal pay data and be prepared to report.
If you have any questions about this requirement or whether it may apply to your business, please contact Baylor Evnen’s employment lawyers: Torrey Gerdes, Susan Foster or Christopher Schmidt.