On March 4, 2019, the District Court reinstated the EEOC’s annual pay data collection requirement, which was put in place at the end of the Obama administration but suspended by the Trump administration in 2017 before it could be implemented.
In a status conference this week, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan threatened to set a deadline for the EEOC to begin collecting pay data, but instead gave the Commission two weeks to lay out how the data will be collected, by what deadline, and how employers should prepare the data.
To date, the EEOC’s statement on its website simply states: “The EEOC is working diligently on next steps in the wake of the court's order…. The EEOC will provide further information as soon as possible.”
Takeaway: Given the current uncertainty over the status of the EEO-1 report, employers may want to wait until April 3, 2019 for the EEOC’s guidance before implementing any changes to their HRIS and payroll systems as it is not clear if, or how, the EEOC is prepared to collect the reinstated pay data through the Commission's online portal or otherwise.
