The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requires all employers with 100 or more employees, and federal contractors with 50 or more employees and contracts of $50,000 or more, to provide information about the makeup of their workforce. Form EEO-1 must be filed annually to identify employees by race, ethnicity and sex, in each employer location and job category (Component 1 data). Employers with 100 or more employees have an additional obligation to report pay data for their workforce (Component 2 data).
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 requires that employers pay men and women in the same workplace equal pay for equal work. Even if the jobs for men and women are not identical, if they are substantially similar, they require equal pay. Job content, not job title, determines whether a position is substantially similar to another position. The EEOC is now requesting pay data as a tool for it to use to identify possible pay discrimination and to help employers maintain equal pay throughout their workforce.
Employers with 100 or more employees will have to report Component 2 pay data for the 2017 and 2018 calendar years by September 30, 2019. The EEOC recently updated its website and provides helpful information for the new reporting requirements. The EEOC released a sample reporting form, instructions and FAQs to assist employers with collecting and submitting pay data sorted by job category, race, ethnicity and sex. The new information may be accessed by clicking here and includes the following
Employers will have to report salary information from the Box 1 of Form W-2 for each of the following job categories: (1) Executive/Senior Level Officers and Managers; (2) First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers; (3) Professionals; (4) Technicians; (5) Sales Workers; (6) Administrative Support Workers and (7) Craft Workers. Salary is reported in 12 pay bands, separated by Male/Female; Hispanic or Latino Male/Female and non-Hispanic or Latino Male/Female further identified by White; Black or African American; Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander; Asian; Native American or Alaska Native; and two or more races. Only individuals employed during the snapshot period need to be reported.
Employers subject to reporting should carefully review the new guidance and start organizing the data required to meet the September 30, 2019 reporting date.