EEOC Proposes Rescinding Employer Data Reporting Requirements

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on May 14, 2026 submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) rescinding the requirement that certain employers submit annual workforce demographic data reports to EEOC, including data on employee race, ethnicity, and sex. If approved by OMB, the proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register for public comment pursuant to the normal regulatory process.

EEOC has mandated since 1966 that certain employers, including private sector employers, state and local governments, and public school systems, submit annual or biennial reports to the EEOC on the demographic composition of their workforce. Similar reporting requirements apply to apprenticeship programs and unions.

The most well-known of these reports is traditionally referred to as the “EEO-1,” after the name of the form EEOC created for data submission. The EEO-1 must be submitted on an annual basis by private organizations with 100 or more employees. Federal contractors with 50 or more employees were also previously required to submit an annual EEO-1, but that obligation was eliminated by the rescission of Executive Order 11246.

The contents of the EEO-1 reports have shifted over time based on directions from EEOC. For example, EEOC added “Middle Eastern or North African” as a response option in 2024 and, under the current administration, rescinded the option of reporting non-binary employees in 2025. The most recent iteration of the EEO-1 requires employers to report on the race, ethnicity, and sex of their employees across 10 job categories.

EEOC has used EEO-1 data to identify disparities across different demographic groups and job categories within specific companies, guide investigations, and analyze workforce composition and employment trends on a national, regional, and industry-specific basis.

OMB SUBMISSION

According to a posting on OMB’s website, EEOC on May 14, 2026 submitted for review a proposed rule titled Rescission of EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and Reporting Requirements under Title VII, the ADA, GINA, and the PWFA. While we do not know the precise contents of the proposed rule submitted to OMB, the title suggests that it contemplates eliminating the EEO-1 and similar reporting requirements. This development is consistent with past statements from EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas.

A message released by Chair Lucas at the start of the 2025 EEO-1 reporting window, for instance, stressed that employers “may not use information about your employees’ race/ethnicity or sex—including demographic data you collect and report in EEO-1 Component 1 reports—to facilitate unlawful employment discrimination” and warned that there was “no diversity exception” to Title VII. The proposed rule also aligns with broader administration efforts to reevaluate workplace diversity-related compliance and reporting obligations.

Once OMB completes its review of the proposed rule, it will be published in the Federal Register in the form of a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for public comment. The proposal will only become final after EEOC considers and responds to those comments and releases a final rule. The process will take at least several months. In the interim, the obligation to collect and retain employee demographic information will remain in effect for employers subject to the EEO-1 requirements.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Do employers need to do anything now? No. This is a proposed rule. It will take at least several months before it is finalized and becomes binding. In the interim, the obligation for covered employers to maintain and report data on the race, ethnicity, and sex of their workforce remains. Employers should continue to give employees the opportunity to voluntarily self-identify as they have in the past.
• Will employers be required to submit EEO-1 data this year? We do not yet know. EEOC has yet to open the reporting portal for this year, and it is possible that they will pause collection while the proposed rule is under consideration. We will need to see what guidance EEOC provides.
• What happens if the rule becomes final? If the rule is ultimately approved, it would eliminate the requirement that companies submit annual workforce demographic data. It also would remove the primary justification employers have for collecting and tracking such information. This introduces a degree of legal uncertainty in this space, and employers will need to evaluate the pros and cons of continuing to collect such data.

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