By Michael S. Moore
As a result of a recent court opinion, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is enforcing the requirement that employers with 100 or more employees (or more than 50 employees if a federal contractor) file detailed data on wages and hours worked.
The EEOC announcement can be found in the Federal Register.
The EEOC may use this data to identify potential claims of wage gaps and pay disparities by sex, among other potential issues. Here is what you need to know:
- Employers are required to file their EEO-1 Component One forms for 2018 by May 31, 2019. The EEOC will only permit a one-time, two week extension of this deadline.
- Employers will be required to submit Component Two data for 2017 and 2018 by September 30, 2019. The EEOC expects to make the Component Two portal available to employers by July 15, 2019.
- The Component Two form will require you to report data on wages and hours worked for 2017 and 2018. Specifically, it will require you to report the wage information from Box 1 of the W-2 form and total hours worked for all employees by race, ethnicity, and sex within 12 different pay bands. Thus, you should begin testing your data systems NOW to determine how you can access the required data for 2017 and 2018.
- The EEOC may use this data to run analyses and identify potential unequal pay claims. Thus, you should attempt to identify any potential issues before the EEOC does. This may include auditing your pay practices and identifying any pay gaps that exist; determining whether they are justified based on legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons; or whether you need to take corrective action to address any pay gaps you identify. We can assist you with identifying potential issues, but this should be done as soon as possible so that there is time to remedy the issues before the September 30deadline.
- Employers with fewer than 50 employees may also want to consider changing their EEO-1 report type from a Type 8 to a Type 6. The Type 8 report requires the same level of detailed data as required of larger employers, while the Type 6 report only requires reports on the total number of employees. If you need assistance identifying the proper type of EEO-1 report, our attorneys can assist.
Written by Attorney Michael S. Moore who is a partner in the firm’s Labor and Employment Practice Group. He specializes in litigation of discrimination cases, wage-hour matters, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, FMLA and employee and supervisor training.
This information is not a substitute for legal advice and should be considered for general guidance only. For more information or if you have further questions, please contact one of our Labor and Employment attorneys.