As we have reported in recent EmployNews issues, a federal district court enjoined the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) attempt to reverse Obama-era regulations that modified the employer EEO-1 disclosure process to include pay information broken down by demographics (referred to as Component 2 data). Given the impending May 31 deadline for submitting 2018 EEO-1 information, this decision left employers unsure as to when and if they should begin collecting pay information. To date, the EEOC has not made any announcement on the pay data submissions, leaving employers with only the ability to file the traditional Component 1 EEO-1 demographic information.

On April 3, OMB indicated to the federal district court that the EEOC will be in a position to collect the 2018 pay information by September 30, 2019. If accepted by the court, presumably employers would be given until this date to submit the Component 2 information. The EEOC would engage an outside contractor to analyze the information provided by employers.

In its court filing, OMB also addressed the question of whether employers would be required to submit 2017 Component 2 data. According to OMB, the EEOC has concerns over the quality and reliability of 2017 pay information collected at this late date, and wants to limit such data to 2018 and beyond. Late last week, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit responded, questioning the need for a delay in submitting this information, asking the district court to order the EEOC to collect Component 2 data by May 31. Depending on the court’s decision and possible appeal, the EEOC may announce the new Component 2 deadline within the next several weeks.