The 2024 EEO-1 Component Data Collection opened on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. The deadline to file the 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 report is Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Filers should read the 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 Instruction Booklet to ensure they are in compliance with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) substantive filing requirements detailed in the Instruction Booklet.
Background
The EEOC collects workforce data from private employers with more than 100 employees (and federal contractors with 50 or more employees that meet certain criteria). Employers meeting the reporting thresholds have a legal obligation to provide the data. It is not voluntary. The data is collected and used for a variety of purposes including enforcement, self-assessment by employers, and research. Each of the reports collects data about sex and race/ethnicity by some type of job grouping. Although the data is confidential, aggregated data is available to the public.
Key Changes
In compliance with Executive Order 14168 (“EO 14168”), the EEOC has removed the voluntary option for reporting non-binary employees. The EEOC determined the changes are necessary to comply with the requirements of EO 14168, which require agency forms to collect data regarding an individual’s sex as either male or female and prohibit agency forms from requesting “gender identity” data. While prior EEO-1 Component 1 instructions provided employers with an optional mechanism for reporting the number of employees who self-reported as “non-binary,” the EEOC states employers must remove that option to ensure compliance with EO 14168. The EEOC removed all discussion of the voluntary reporting option for non-binary employees consistent with EO 14168.
Employers should be aware the EEOC is an executive branch agency, not an independent agency. EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas indicated the agency will fully and robustly comply with all Executive Orders, like the recission of EO 11246 and the “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.” She explicitly noted, “Title VII’s protections apply equally to all workers, regardless of their race or sex. Different treatment based on race, sex, or another protected characteristic can be unlawful discrimination, no matter which employees or applicants are harmed. There is no “diversity” exception to Title VII’s requirements.”
The EEOC has shortened the submission window to five weeks. After the June 24, 2025 deadline, additional reports will not be accepted, and all required filings will be deemed out of compliance with the reporting obligation.
Stay Informed!
As a reminder the EEOC stopped collecting pay data in 2019. In 2024 there were rumblings the EEOC would revive that practice. That did not occur – i.e. you do not need to provide pay data. Here at Bricker Graydon, we will continue to monitor the EEOC and all Labor and Employment law, make sure you visit our HR Matters Blog to get the latest updates!
*Tommy Rogers J.D. – Ohio License in Process
