July 21, 2026
EEOC’s True to Its Word – Proposed Rescission of EEO Reporting
On July 21st, the EEOC made good on its regulatory agenda published just a few weeks ago. One of many items on that agenda included plans to propose rescission of the rules that require certain employers to file one or more reports annually summarizing aggregate data on their employees’ race and sex (EEO-1 through 6).
Covered employers have been filing EEO-1 reports for more than 50 years! So why the change? The EEOC writes, “the Commission determined that the EEO Data Reports are inconsistent with equal employment opportunity law, may raise constitutional concerns, and collect data that is not narrowly tailored or necessary to enforce anti-discrimination statutes. Under Title VII, the EEOC is not required to impose these reporting obligations and may eliminate them when they are inconsistent with the law, not useful, or counter to enforcement priorities…any limited value of the reports is outweighed by the significant burdens on employers…”
The report with which most employers may (or should) be familiar is the EEO-1, which private sector employers with 100 or more employees and certain government (sub)contractors with 50 or more employees must file each year.
According to agency estimates, the EEOC’s current data collection requirement imposes costs of almost $275 million on employers every year, as well as almost $4 million of costs on the EEOC to administer this data collection.
Advocacy opportunity! Mark your calendar. There will be a public hearing on August 11th. There will also be a notice and comment period following publication of the rule in the Federal Register. In the interim, you can review the 63-page proposed rule here.
