The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted 2-1 Tuesday to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would end six decades of mandatory federal workforce demographic reporting.
Why it matters: The Proposed Rule eliminates significant demographic data collection and reporting requirements for large employers (apart from existing state requirements—see more below).
Inside the Proposed Rule: The EEOC concludes that the EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, and EEO-5 reports are inconsistent with antidiscrimination law, unnecessary for enforcement, and may raise constitutional concerns.
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Republican Commissioners argued that collecting race and sex data absent a specific allegation of discrimination ‟risks hindering effective enforcement of equal employment laws” in addition to raising constitutional questions.
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The rule would also strike related reporting obligations tied to Title VII, the ADA, GINA, and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
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The EEOC has previously estimated the EEO-1 alone consumes roughly 5.2 million employer hours and about $273 million in annual compliance costs.
Ongoing reporting requirements: Chair Lucas indicated that companies will still have to submit EEO-1 reports for the current cycle. Additionally, California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York City each have their own demographic data collection and reporting requirements (which mostly mirror the EEO-1 process) that remain in full effect. Other states could soon follow to fill the federal void.
What’s next and CHRO advocacy: The rule is now open for public comment for 30 days, with a final rule expected before the end of the year.
The Association is contemplating filing comments—if you would like to share your company’s perspective on the proposed changes, please reach out to Greg Hoff at [email protected].
What CHROs should be thinking about:
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Avoid fully dismantling demographic tracking. California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York City maintain their own workforce and pay data reporting requirements, and more states are positioned to fill the federal void.
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Preserve the internal use case. Boards, investors, pay equity audits, and legal defenses all often rely on the same data the EEO-1 captures—and Title VII’s disparate-impact framework remains fully enforceable by private plaintiffs and state agencies.
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The story is not over. A future, Democrat-led EEOC could resume collection of demographic data.
