The New York State Senate has passed a bill that, if enacted, would require certain corporate entities to report data regarding the gender, race, and ethnicity of their employees. On March 27, 2023, an identical version of the bill was introduced in the New York State Assembly.  If enacted, the reporting requirements would take effect two years after becoming law.

This proposed legislation would amend the New York Business Corporation Law and the Limited Liability Company Law to require that corporations and limited liability companies that are required to file an employer information report EEO-1 with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission also be required to submit substantially similar demographic workforce data to the New York Secretary of State. The Secretary of State would then publish the data on gender, race, and ethnicity of each entity’s employees online within 90 days of receipt.

The EEO-1 must be filed annually by all private employers with 100 or more employees and by certain federal contractors with 50 or more employees. It requires reporting of aggregated employee demographics by gender and race/ethnicity across ten delineated job categories.

If enacted, the law would continue a trend in states placing heightened reporting obligations on employers. For example, since 2020, California has required private employers of 100 or more employees with at least one employee in California to report certain employee pay data to the California Civil Rights Department (formerly known as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing) on an annual basis. The California law was subsequently amended to expand reporting requirements (including as related to contract employees) and impose civil penalties on employers that fail to comply. And effective March 24, 2022, the Illinois Equal Pay Act was amended to require private businesses with more than 100 employees in Illinois to obtain an Equal Pay Registration Certificate by March 23, 2024, and every two years thereafter.