On Thursday, May 7, 2020, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced it will not collect EEO-1 data from private sector employers this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ordinarily, all private sector employers with at least 100 employees, plus those with 50 or more employees and that also have at least one federal contract or subcontract worth at least $50,000, must respond to the EEO-1 survey annually by March 31. In the EEO-1 survey, covered employers are required to report the number of employees by race and gender in each of 10 job categories, ranging from service workers to their top executives, who were employed in a pay period of the employer’s choosing between October 1 and December 31 of the previous calendar year. This does not mean covered employers will get a complete pass on having to report their 2019 EEO-1 data. In the same announcement, the EEOC said it now plans to open the EEO-1 survey for both 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 data in March 2021. Thus, if you are required to respond to the EEO-1 survey, be sure to hold on to your 2019 EEO-1 data and be prepared to report it along with your 2020 EEO-1 data when the survey reopens in March 2021.

Earlier this year, the EEOC had announced an indefinite postponement of the March 31, 2020, deadline for reporting 2019 EEO-1 data. The earlier postponement was due to the EEOC’s decision last year to discontinue the EEO-1 Component 2 pay data collection report and to seek approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for a new EEO-1 report form for Component 1 basic information. As of the EEOC’s May 7 announcement, the new EEO-1 report form had not been released. Presumably, the new report form will receive final approval from the OMB before the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 survey opens in March 2021.