All businesses with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees must submit their 2018 pay data to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by Sept. 30, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., has decided.
The information, which must include how much each employer paid workers of various sexes, races and ethnicities last year, is intended to be part of the EEOC’s ongoing collection of demographic data.
Businesses must submit the data as Component 2 of the EEO-1 form.
The EEOC proposed the deadline after the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia reinstated the data collection requirement adopted under President Barack Obama. The requirement was removed by the Trump administration in 2017, citing a paperwork burden.
The ruling requires the EEOC to provide periodic compliance updates to the court.
The EEOC must collect a second year of pay data in 2020. The data must be collected for either 2017 or 2019.
Businesses are advised to create auditing procedures to ensure equal pay in their workplaces. Consult with a business attorney to ensure that your business has the proper policies in place.