Employers May No Longer Have to Disclose Race and Gender Data

Since 1966, the majority of employers have been legally required to provide a confidential breakdown of their workforce by race and gender to the government. The mandate—which applies to any company with at least 100 employees and to federal contractors with 50 or more employees—was introduced not long after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created, to help the agency enforce antidiscrimination laws. 

Now the EEOC has made the unprecedented decision to rescind those reporting requirements. This week, the agency voted 2-1 in favor of a proposal to eliminate this data collection—known as an EEO-1 report—along with similar mandatory disclosures from unions, state and local government and public schools. The proposed rule is slated to be finalized and adopted after a 30-day comment period, which allows for members of the public to submit feedback.

EEOC chair Andrea Lucas—who was appointed by President Donald Trump—has argued EEO-1 reporting requirements could be at odds with civil rights law, despite the long-standing precedent. "The EEO Data Reports stand in direct tension with Title VII’s requirement that employment practices be colorblind," she said in a statement. "Collecting such data about employees’ race and sex—absent any specific allegation of discrimination—not only risks hindering effective enforcement of equal employment laws but also raises constitutional concerns."

Please select this link to read the complete article from Fast Company.