EEOC Sues Employers for Not Filing EEO Reports

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed lawsuits against 15 employers last week, alleging the companies have repeatedly failed to submit mandatory federal workforce demographic reports.

The companies—found across 10 states—include restaurants, retailers, and construction and logistics businesses. They have been charged with failing to submit mandatory EEO-1 data reports for 2021 and 2022. Federal law requires private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with at least 50 employees to submit workforce data by job category and sex, race, or ethnicity to the EEOC. The workforce demographic data is used for a variety of purposes, including enforcement, analytics, and employer self-assessment.

“This data collection is an important tool for ensuring compliance with Title VII’s prohibition on workplace discrimination,” said EEOC General Counsel Karla Gilbride. “Not only did Congress authorize the EEOC to collect this data, Congress also authorized the agency to go to court to obtain compliance when employers ignore their obligation to provide the required information.”

EEOC Chair Charlotte Burrows added that the data help the agency focus its resources, identify potential discrimination, and refine its investigations.

The lawsuits allege that the employers still failed to comply even after the EEOC issued them a notice of noncompliance and a failure to file notification.

The EEOC is asking the courts to issue orders forcing the employers to file EEO-1 reports for the missing years and requiring them to do so in the future.

The annual data collection is authorized by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The 2023 EEO-1 data collection is currently underway, and the deadline to file was June 4.

“These lawsuits filed by the EEOC serve as a wake-up call to any employer that has not been meeting its reporting deadlines,” said Sheila Abron, a partner in the Columbia, S.C., office of Fisher Phillips.

“While this requirement has been around for nearly six decades, some employers may have grown complacent, given the lack of actionable steps the EEOC may have taken in the past to enforce these rules,” Abron said. “With this flurry of lawsuits, however, you now have the clearest warning yet that compliance is essential.”