After months of uncertainty on what will happen with this year’s EEO-1 survey, EEOC has informed employers that there will be no EEO-1 survey during 2020. A formal notice to that effect was published in the Federal Register on May 8, 2020.

EEO-1 Data for 2019 and 2020 to Be Collected in 2021

EEOC’s announcement regarding the delay in collecting EEO-1 data contains several important elements.

• There will be no collection of EEO-1 data until the first quarter of 2021.
• Employers should be prepared to provide data for both 2019 and 2020 when the EEO-1 portal opens in early 2021.
• Employers will have a deadline of March 31, 2021 to provide data for both 2019 and 2020.

EEOC has indicated that the delay in opening the EEO-1 portal is “because of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency.”

Form to Be Used to Collect EEO-1 Data Requires Approval

EEOC had expected to open the EEO-1 survey portal in the first quarter of 2020. Employers would have been asked to provide data on persons employed during a payroll from the fourth quarter of 2019. However, EEOC was required to get approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to collect this information from employers. EEOC had initially published a notice in the Federal Register in September of 2019 asking to renew the form used to collect traditional demographic data. EEOC also used this notice to state that it would no longer be collecting compensation data from employers. (See our earlier blog post about this compensation data collection.)

In March of 2020, EEOC published a second notice regarding the form to be used to collect EEO-1 data. EEOC reiterated its position that it would no longer be collecting component 2 data. EEOC’s request to renew the EEO-1 form is currently being reviewed by OMB. While EEOC has experienced significant delays in getting the EEO-1 form renewed, OMB is very likely to approve the form as submitted. Once approved, EEOC will be able to capture data from both the fourth quarter of 2019 and the fourth quarter of 2020 when the portal opens in 2021.