UPDATE: EEOC Issues Revised Proposed Equal Pay Data Rule

On July 13, 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) announced the publication of its revised proposal for changes to the Equal Employer Information Report (EEO-1) that would require private employers, including federal contractors, with 100 or more employees to include pay and hour data by sex, race, and ethnicity as well as job category to their EEO-1 starting in 2017.

In response to comments made during an initial 60-day comment period and a public hearing, the updated proposal would push back the deadline to submit the initial revised EEO-1 survey from September 30, 2017, to March 31, 2018. The move is intended to simplify employer reporting of the new pay and hour data by enabling employers to utilize W-2 pay reports, which are calculated based on the calendar year.

Currently, certain federal contractors with 50 to 99 employees and other private employers with 100 or more employees are required to submit an EEO-1 annually, by September 30, that reports to the federal government the number of individuals they employ by job category and then by race, ethnicity and sex. The proposal expands on this existing requirement by requiring employers with 100 employees or more to also include data on pay ranges and hours worked to the information collected. Specifically, for each job category, the proposed EEO-1 would have twelve pay bands, and employers would be required to tabulate and report the number of employees whose W-2 earnings for the prior 12 months fell within each pay band by their ethnicity, race and sex as well as their hours worked.

The revised rule proposal will be published on July 14, 2016. Members of the public now have until August 15, 2016, to submit comments on the revised rule proposal to the United States Office of Management and Budget.

For more information on this topic, please contact your Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC attorney or the authors listed below.

Catherine P. Wells | Chair, Employment Law Group | cwells@csglaw.com | (973) 530-2051

Lindsay Smith Dischley | Associate | ldischley@csglaw.com | (973) 530-2110