EEO-1 filing deadline May 31

By Kristen Cifolelli, courtesy SBAM Approved Partner ASE

As a result of the federal government shut down, employers have two additional months to file their EEO-1 report.  The normal filing due date for the EEO-1 is March 31st, but the 2018 EEO-1 report for employers is due this year by May 31, 2019.  The tool will open up for reporting in two weeks per the EEOC.  Filing instructions will be posted soon on the EEO-1 survey website.
 
The purpose of the EEO-1 report is to collect employment data from employers categorizing employees by race/ethnicity, gender, and job category.  The EEOC represents that it uses the data to support civil rights enforcement and to analyze employment patterns, such as the representation of women and minorities within companies, industries, or regions.  It is not a voluntary survey for those employers that meet filing eligibility requirements.

Key information and filing requirements of the EEO-1:
Private sector employers subject to Title VII with 100 or more employees are required to file.

Private sector employers subject to Title VII with fewer than 100 employees are required to file if the company is owned or affiliated with another company, or there is centralized ownership, control, or management so that the group legally constitutes a single enterprise and the entire enterprise employees a total of 100 or more employees.

Federal government contractors and first-tier subcontractors with 50 or more employees and at least $50,000 in contracts must also file.

Employee means any individual on the payroll of an employer who is an employee for purposes of the employers withholding of Social Security taxes.  This includes full-time and part-time employees, apprentices, and on-the-job trainees. The term “employee” does not include persons hired on a casual basis who are temporarily employed for a specific time or for the duration of a specified job. Leased employees are individuals provided to a company by an employment agency for a fee and should be included in the employment agency’s EEO-1 report.

Filing is done annually and dependent on the number of employed individuals in the organization.  Even if the organization’s employee count does not meet the filing requirement one year, it may not exempt the organization from filing the following year should the number of employed individuals increase.

All employment data must come from one payroll period in October, November, or December of the current survey year.  EEO-1 reports filed in May 2019 should pull data from the fall of 2018.

Employees who telecommute should be reported in the establishment for which they report (i.e. the location in which their manager sits).

Employers filing for the first time must register their company on-line as “first time filers” with their corporate headquarter’s location or address.  They will then receive information with the company number and information to log-in and submit information electronically.

EEO-1 reports are filed electronically through the EEO-1 Online Filing Application or as an electronically transmitted datafile (ASCII/TEXT file).  Paper EEO-1 forms will be generated only under extreme circumstances where Internet access is not available and only upon approval.

Employers will need to determine which type of EEO-1 report they need to file.  The report filed depends on whether the employer is classified as a single-establishment company or a multi-establishment company.  A single-establishment company does business at only one physical address. A multi-establishment company does business at two or more physical addresses. Single-establishment companies are only required to submit one EEO-1 data record/report. Multi-establishment companies are required to submit a separate report for the headquarters, a separate report for each establishment of the company with 50 or more employees, and separate report for each establishment with fewer than 50 employees, and a consolidated report that includes all employees.

Organizations that that have gone through a merger, acquisition, or spin-off since the last survey period must notify the EEOC.  Refer to the EEOC website for details on who to contact and what information must be submitted.

Self-identification is the preferred method of identifying race and ethnic information necessary for the EEO-1 report. Employers are required to attempt to allow employees to use self-identification to complete the EEO-1 report. If an employee declines to self-identify, employment records or observer identification may be used.

Common EEO-1 Filing Mistakes:

Any employer failing or refusing to file Report EEO-1 when required to do so may be compelled to file by order of a U.S. District Court, upon application of the EEOC.  Making any willfully false statements on the EEO-1 Report EEO-1 is punishable by fine or imprisonment.  While potentially expensive to litigate, there are no civil penalties or fees for failure to file an EEO-1 report for most employers.  Federal contractors should be aware that the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) may cancel, terminate, or suspend all or a portion of any federal contract held by a noncompliant employer. Noncompliant federal contractors may also be subject to permanent debarment or debarment for a specified period of time.  If questions arise while completing the EEO-1 report, the EEOC has posted a number of helpful FAQs which can be found here.

Additional ASE Resources
EEO-1 Pay reporting Requirement Back On (Temporarily?) – Please refer to this week’s EPTW article for information and updates regarding the reporting of pay.