The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a press release on January 12, 2021, notifying EEO-1 filers that the EEO-1 filing platform will not open until April 2021. This is of particular interest for employers because the EEOC delayed the 2019 EEO-1 filings, which would normally have been due in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic—meaning that both the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 filings will be due this year. The April 2021 opening date for the EEO-1 filing platform is later than the standard pre-pandemic mid-January platform opening date to which employers are accustomed. The press release states that the EEOC will provide to all prior EEO-1 filers the exact platform opening date and the due dates for the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 filings in a letter and an announcement on the agency’s home page, as well as on a website dedicated specifically to EEO reports.

The press release and pay data collection website also provide updates for the opening of filing platforms for 2020 EEO-5 reports (public elementary/secondary school districts), which will open in July 2021; 2020 EEO-3 reports (local referral unions), which will open in August 2021; and 2021 EEO-4 reports (state/local governments), which will open in October 2021. The press release encourages EEO filers to begin preparing to submit data for their EEO-1 filings. This sounds like good advice from the EEOC for employers that not only must deal with two years of EEO-1 filings but also an increasing number of state pay reporting requirements, including the first year of California pay data report filings.