WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has announced a proposed revision to the employer information report (EEO-1) that would have it include pay data collection from employers, including federal contractors, with more than 100 employees.
The agency will use the new data to help identify possible pay discrimination and assist employers in promoting equal pay in their workplaces. EEO-1 would provide workforce profiles from private sector employers detailing race, ethnicity, sex and job category to the federal government.
The EEOC would then have insight into pay disparity across industries and occupations and could better battle discrimination.
“More than 50 years after pay discrimination became illegal it remains a persistent problem for too many Americans," said EEOC Chairwoman Jenny R. Yang. "Collecting pay data is a significant step forward in addressing discriminatory pay practices. This information will assist employers in evaluating their pay practices to prevent pay discrimination and strengthen enforcement of our federal anti-discrimination laws."
The current proposal comes after independent studies and the EEOC’s work with the President’s National Equal Pay Task Force, which had proposed new data collection requirements to help curb pay discrimination in workplaces throughout the country.