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On May 14, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to end mandatory EEO-1 reporting requirements under Title VII for (a) private sector employers with 100 or more employees and (b) federal contractors with more than 50 employees. Details of the changes to EEO-1 reporting will not be published until OIRA completes its review, but employers may prepare for the likely changes now.
Current EEO-1 Reporting Requirements
EEO-1s are data collection forms that require private sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with more than 50 employees to disclose workforce demographic data to the EEOC. Employers must list the number of employees by job category (officials/managers, professionals, laborers, etc.), race or ethnicity, and gender. Each employee may be included in only one category, and employers may be reprimanded by the EEOC for noncompliance.
EEO-1s also impose recordkeeping requirements to maintain demographic data in the event of an investigation. The EEOC imposes these requirements and collects this data to help identify potential employment discrimination.
Additionally, while EEO-1s are a federal requirement, state and local jurisdictions may have similar disclosure requirements. For example, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts have reporting requirements that require large employers to disclose race or ethnicity and gender data (and some also require compensation information as well). Thus, depending on jurisdiction, employers may be required to continue to collect demographic data of their employees regardless of EEO-1s.
Can Employers Continue to Collect EEO-1 Demographic Data?
For now, yes. No guidance from the EEOC has indicated employers are no longer allowed to collect their employees’ EEO-1 demographic data. Disclosure of demographic data by employees has always been voluntary, as employers are not allowed to compel an employee to disclose their race or ethnicity and gender for EEO-1 reporting or any other purpose. In past guidance, the EEOC has encouraged employers to collect EEO-1 data through voluntary disclosure, but in the event an employee refuses to disclose EEO-1 data, companies are allowed (and may be required) to use an observer to collect such data. However, employers’ ability to collect such data may change once the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register after OIRA completes its review.
Moreover, even if EEO-1 reporting is coming to an end, companies may have internal, non-discriminatory purposes for collecting demographic data. Collecting demographic data may be useful in the evaluation of pay disparities, equal employment opportunities, and other workforce management matters. Thus, collecting such data may be useful in minimizing legal exposure.
What Should Employers Do Now?
Employers should continue to prepare EEO-1s for this year’s filing; the EEOC has not yet opened the portal for filing nor announced the due date, though historically it has been September 30, 2026. The proposed rule will likely take weeks, potentially months, in OIRA review; OIRA has up to 90 days (until August 12, 2026) to complete its review. Further, even after OIRA review, the proposed rule must undergo typical administrative review. This includes a formal notice-and-comment period where the EEOC will publish the rule in the Federal Register and solicit public feedback of the proposed rule; a drafting and review period where the EEOC will review and refine the public’s feedback on the rule; and the final publication of the rule, where the EEOC will explain the basis and purpose of the rule, and when the rule will become effective.
Thus, it will take time for the rule to become effective. In the meantime, employers should stay prepared for the EEOC to announce the 2025 EEO-1 data collection deadline and consult legal counsel to confirm compliance with all federal, state, or local demographic data disclosure requirements.
This article was prepared with the assistance of 2026 summer associate John Stillman.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
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