EEOC Puts Hold on Future Pay Data Collections, Pending Review

Employment Law, Inclusion and Diversity

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced this week that it does not plan to require employers to submit pay data in the future until it can reexamine the potential benefits and costs of collecting the data.

Employers are still required to submit 2017 and 2018 pay data to the EEOC by September 30, 2019.

Public notice and comment rulemaking will be used in the future “if the EEOC seeks to pursue a pay data collection in the future.”

Will a federal court order the EEOC to collect more pay data?  On April 25, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the EEOC to collect two years of pay data by September 30, 2019, and extended OMB approval for the collection to April 2021.  The District Court’s decision is now pending appeal before the D.C. Circuit.

Outlook:  It is unclear whether the plaintiffs in the case will ask the District Court to order the EEOC to collect pay data covering 2019, or how the D.C. Circuit will rule on the appeal.  However, employers can expect activists to pressure them to post their 2017 and 2018 pay data online, and states such as California may move to enact their own pay data reporting requirements.