It is once again time for employers to report the demographics of their workforce to the Joint Reporting Committee of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The report, which is commonly referred to as an EEO-1 report, typically must be filed between August 1 and September 30 of each year on the committee’s website (www.eeoc.gov/employers/eeo1survey/index.cfm).
Who must report?
Federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors with more than 50 employees are required to file an EEO-1 report if they have a government contract, subcontract, or purchase order of $50,000 or more. However, the reporting requirement is not for government contractors only. All employers with 100 or more employees are required to report. State and local governments, primary and secondary school systems, institutions of higher education, Indian tribes, and tax-exempt private membership clubs other than labor organizations are exempt.
The 100-employee threshold is an aggregation of all affiliated companies. If a separately incorporated employer has fewer than 100 employees, it will be required to file a report if it is owned or affiliated with another company and the companies’ combined number of employees equals or exceeds 100. When the report is filed, all affiliated companies will file reports for locations where they have 50 or more employees, a list of facilities where fewer than 50 workers are employed, a report for the company’s headquarters, and a consolidated report for all locations.
What should you file?
Filing a report involves filling out an online form. You will be assigned a company number and password. The report requires you to break down your workforce by gender, race (black―not of Hispanic origin, white―not of Hispanic origin, Hispanic or Latino, Asian or Pacific Islander, Native American or Alaskan Native, or two or more races― not of Hispanic origin), and job classification (executives, first-level managers, professionals, technicians, sales workers, office administrative support, skilled craft workers, semi-skilled operatives, unskilled laborers, and service workers).
You are required to invite new employees to self-identify. This should be done when employees are hired. If an employee does not self-identify, you will need to make your best guess; you cannot require employees to self- identify.
The EEOC provides an instruction manual that categorizes most jobs into one of nine job classifications. Your report should focus on your workforce as it exists in a particular pay period in July of the reporting year. Although reports typically must be filed by September 30 of each year, extensions can be requested by e-mail or phone and are routinely granted for a period of up to 30 days.
What happens if no report is filed?
If you are required to file a report and do not, you could be subject to a lawsuit to compel you to file a report. False reporting can result in fines or imprisonment, and federal contractors that don’t file a report may be subject to debarment from their contracts.
Bottom line
EEO reporting is required by law. Large companies should designate an employee to gather data from various locations and file the report. If you have acquired another company, be sure to close out the acquired company’s EEO-1 files when you file your report. Otherwise, the government may incorrectly believe the acquired company did not submit a report and send you a letter threatening legal action. Government contractors should be meticulous about filing EEO-1 reports because the reports may be scrutinized by the OFCCP if the agency reviews the company’s affirmative action plan.
Gary Fealk is an attorney and shareholder at Vercruysse, Murray & Calzone, P.C., in Detroit. His practice focuses on the areas of labor and employment litigation on behalf of private and public sector employers including cases involving non-competition agreements, discrimination claims, the Fair Labor Standards Act, National Labor Relations Act, OSHA, and ERISA, including multi-employer benefit fund collection actions. You may contact him at gfealk@vmclaw.com.