As of yesterday—May 20, 2025—EEO-1 data collection is open. The deadline to file the 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 report is June 24, 2025. The EEOC stated there will be no extensions, so covered employers should act promptly to file their reports.  For detailed information on the EEOC’s substantive filing requirements, employers may refer to the EEO-1 Component 1 Instruction Booklet, which can be found here, and are encouraged to contact their employment attorney.

The EEO-1 opening announcement states that “[u]nder current EEOC regulations, private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees and that meet certain criteria, are required to report annually the number of individuals they employ by job category and by sex and race or ethnicity.”  The phrase ‘under current EEOC regulations’ is noteworthy because those ‘regulations,’ including 41 CFR § 60-1.7, were promulgated to enforce Executive Order 11246.  See 41 CFR § 60-1.1 (“The purpose of the regulations in this part is to achieve the aims of parts II, III, and IV of Executive Order 11246 . . . .”).  As federal contractors are likely aware, Executive Order 11246 was recently revoked by Executive Order 14173.  (See our January 28, 2025 blog post for more information about that Executive Order.)  Federal contractors with 50-99 employees would be well advised to consult with their employment attorneys regarding the application of the Executive Orders and federal regulations.  For private employers, including federal contractors, with 100 or more employees, EEO-1 reporting should be mostly business as usual.

The announcement about the opening of the reporting period was accompanied by a short message from EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas regarding disparate impact liability, EEO-1 reporting, and the role of the EEOC.

• The Acting Chair noted that the EEOC will prioritize responding to and remedying intentional discrimination claims, rather than disparate impact claims, going forward.  (See our April 23, 2025 blog post for more information about that Executive Order.)
• Consistent with priorities of the current administration, the Acting Chair reiterated that employers may not use EEO-1 reporting data to take employment actions based on, or motivated even in part by, an employee’s protected characteristics—including in the context of diversity-related programs.
• Interestingly, the Acting Chair stated, “The EEOC is an executive branch agency, not an independent agency. We will fully and robustly comply with this and all Executive Orders. Under my leadership, the EEOC will prioritize remedying intentional discrimination claims.”