New EEO-1 Deadline Fast Approaching

By
September 7, 2007

The federal EEO-1 report requires employers with 100 or more workers, federal contractors with 50 or more workers and $50,000 or more in federal business, and some financial organizations (e.g., banks), regardless of size, to annually report the racial and ethnic composition of their workforce. The data is used to assess diversity in the American workplace and to pinpoint industries that lag in progress toward that goal.
 
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently approved a new version of the EEO-1 employer report – the first major revision to this form in 40 years. Various changes to the form will affect how employers classify managers and supervisors and categorize the race and ethnicity of employees before the next report is due to be filed by September 30, 2007.
 
The government is not demanding that you resurvey your entire workforce for the 2007 report, only new hires. You can continue to identify the rest as you have before, simply transposing them into the new or changed categories as needed. However, the Labor Department recommends that you do resurvey them.
 
To comply, employers must analyze their workforce as it exists during one payroll period between July and September. The form asks for the number of workers in each category, and then asks how many in each group hold management roles.
 
The following describes how the racial/ethnic section of the new form has changed from that used since 1966:
 

–The number of racial/ethnic categories has been increased from 5 to 7. The additions were made by adding a new category, “Two or More Races,” to accommodate those of mixed racial background, and by splitting the former “Asian or Pacific Islander” into “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.”
 
–Two categories have been renamed. “Black” is now “Black or African American,” and “Hispanic” is now “Hispanic or Latino.”
 

You can obtain your employees’ racial/ethnic identity one of two ways. Although it is permitted to guess by “visual identification,” the EEOC much prefers that you actually ask them. There is even a preferred way to do this, which we will get to shortly. How do you legally ask about race or ethnicity? EEOC officials suggest a “two-question format”:
 

–First ask workers if they are Hispanic or Latino. If so, no further identification is needed for the EEO-1.
 
–If not, next ask them to choose which race or ethnic category they identify with from the list on the form.

 
Before asking, however, give assurances that the information will be used only for group statistical purposes, will never trigger any adverse actions, will be held confidential on an individual basis, and is completely voluntary.
 
If you cannot get voluntary cooperation, you can then make your best guess. However, the Department of Labor expects employers to ask more than once before resorting to other measures.
If you have questions regarding the above, please contact any of the attorneys in the Employment, Benefits & Labor Relations Practice Group of Ruder Ware.

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