On July 30, 2025, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court order requiring the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to release EEO-1 reports previously withheld in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. In Center for Investigative Reporting v. U.S. Dep't of Labor, the Ninth Circuit held that federal contractors' workforce composition data is not protected "commercial" information under FOIA's Exemption 4 and must be disclosed.
The case arose when the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR) requested several years of federal contractors' EEO-1 reports from the DOL. These reports contain aggregated demographic data, including race, ethnicity, and sex, organized by job category. The DOL initially withheld thousands of reports determining that they may contain confidential commercial information protected from disclosure under FOIA's Exemption 4. The Agency then published a notice in the Federal Register, giving federal contractors the opportunity to object to the release of their EEO-1 data. After extending the objection deadline, the DOL continued to withhold the reports, prompting CIR to eventually file suit. Following the district court's order compelling the release the reports, the DOL filed an appeal.
The DOL argued the EEO-1 reports fall under FOIA's Exemption 4 because the data "relates to commercial subject matter." The Ninth Circuit disagreed. The court explained the information qualifies as "commercial" under Exemption 4 only if it is an object of commerce or "describes an exchange of goods or services for profit." Finding the EEO-1 reports alone do not reveal details about federal contractors' services, prices, profits, or other information typically considered commercial, the court held that the data is not protected information under FOIA. In addition, the court rejected the DOL's argument that EEO-1 data is "indirectly" related to commercial activity as too attenuated to bring the reports within the scope of Exemption 4.
Because the DOL failed to show that the reports contained protected "commercial" information, the court ordered their disclosure to the CIR.
According to this decision, federal contractors cannot rely solely on FOIA's Exemption 4 to keep their EEO-1 reports confidential. While the ruling promotes transparency and public access to diversity data for companies doing business with the federal government, it is narrowly focused on the aggregated data of the consolidated EEO-1 reports. Other types of sensitive commercial information may still be protected under FOIA or under Trade Secret protections.
The DOL has limited time to decide whether they will accept the opinion or request a rehearing of the matter.
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