Proposed Revisions to EEO-1 Report Approved
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has approved final proposed revisions to the Employer Information Report, also known as the EEO-1 Report. If approved, these revisions will be effective for the 2007 EEO-1 reporting deadline. The EEO-1 report is the principal reporting form by which certain employers provide the federal government with a count of their workforces by ethnicity, race and gender, divided into job categories. The Report is an annual requirement for employers with 100 or more employees and for employers with federal government contracts of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees. The revisions to the EEO-1 Report affect both the race and ethnic categories and the job categories.
The EEOC's final proposed revisions to the EEO-1 Report's race and ethnic categories include:
Separating the "Asian or Pacific Islander" category into two categories: "Asians" and "Pacific Islanders";
The addition of a new category called "Two or more races not Hispanic or Latino";
The addition of a new category called "Asians not Hispanic or Latino"; and
The addition of a new category called "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander not Hispanic or Latino."
The EEOC's final proposed revisions to the EEO-1 Report's job categories include:
Dividing the "Officials and Managers" category into two separate categories based on job responsibility and seniority: "Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers" and "First/Mid- Level Officials and Managers"; and
Requiring that non-managerial business and financial occupations fall under the "Professionals" category, as opposed to the "Officials and Managers" category.
In addition, the EEOC suggests that employers gather the data for the EEO-1 by asking employees to voluntarily report their ethnicity and race, as opposed to the current suggested method of visual observation by employers. The EEO-1 Report would include a statement to employers that they must inform employees that the self-identification is voluntary. (This emphasis on voluntary self-identification will require employers to carefully explain the changes, particularly the new category of "two or more races, not Hispanic or Latino.") Further, various State laws, particularly California, require that the information not be commingled with personnel records or used for any purpose other than statistical compilations.
