After last week's bench order issued by Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requiring the EEOC to collect a second year of EEO-1 pay data, the EEOC has made its choice of which additional year of data it will collect. The EEOC has opted to require employers to retroactively collect 2017 pay data, rather than 2019 pay data. The EEOC envisions the collection process starting in mid-July 2019 and committed to notifying employers of the precise date.

Following the EEOC's announcement, the U.S. Department of Justice filed an appeal of the court order. But the EEOC announced on its website that the appeal did not stay the court's order and that employers are still required to gather pay data for 2017 and 2018 in order to make the September 30, 2019 deadline.

The ongoing EEO-1 pay data saga comes at a time of great interest in, and awareness of, pay equity issues.

The EEOC decision places a heavy burden on employers. With no experience under their belts, employers must go back into their records to gather 2017 pay data at the same time they are gathering 2018 pay data. Employers should begin gathering pay data for both years well in advance of the September 30, 2019 deadline.