In 2006, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced the implementation of the first major changes to the EEO-1 Report. The EEO-1 Report must be filed annually by employers with 100 or more employees, or employers with federal government contracts of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees. These revisions include the addition of job, race, and ethnic categories as well as reprioritizing data collection methods. The changes to the EEO-1 Report will be implemented for the 2007 survey.

The current EEO-1 report requires workforce data to be categorized by the use of five race and ethnic categories and nine job categories. The revisions to the EEO-1 report provide more detailed descriptions for identification of race and ethnicity. The category “Asian or Pacific Islander” will be split into two separate categories—“Asian not Hispanic or Latino” and “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islanders not Hispanic or Latino.” The “American Indian” category will become “American Indian or Alaska Native not Hispanic or Latino.” A new category titled “two or more races” has been added, however the EEOC will not require reporting of the different races with which these employees identify.

The revisions to the job categories include dividing the existing category of “Officials and Managers” into two levels based on responsibility and influence within the organization. The two levels are:

• Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers—those who plan, direct and formulate policy, set strategy, and provide overall direction
• First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers—those who direct implementation or operations

The EEOC further clarified that all business and financial occupations must be reported in the “Professionals” category instead of the “Officials and Managers” category.

Previously, the EEOC did not endorse a particular method of data collection with respect to race and gender information. With the changes to race and ethnic categories the EEOC “strongly” encourages employee self-identification of race and gender. Only when an employee chooses not to self-identify should the employer identify race and/or gender through visual observation.

The EEOC has instructed employers to survey employees using a “two-question” format where employees are first asked whether they identify as “Hispanic or Latino” and, if not, to report the race or races they consider themselves to be among the other revised categories. If the employee identifies as “Hispanic or Latino,” they are classified as such regardless of whether the employee perceives that he/she is more than one race.

The EEOC is not mandating that employers resurvey their workforce until they are preparing for the 2008 EEO-1 report. Employers must use the new report in 2007, however if an employer chooses not to resurvey prior to the 2007 report, they should not report on the “two or more races” and “Hawaiian” categories. The EEOC understands that resurveying may be burdensome for many employers. They hope to ease that burden by allowing employers this extra time to resurvey. The EEOC is encouraging employers to utilize opportunities to resurvey during routine updates of employee’s personal information. Now that the 2006 report is complete, employers should be using the new ethnic and racial categories when new employees self-identify.

These and other changes to the EEO-1 report are discussed in the Federal Register notice which is available on the EEOC’s website at http://www.eeoc.gov/eeo1/index.html.

For more information on how to adhere to the new EEO-1 report requirements please contact Berkshire Associates Inc. at 800.882.8904, or bai@berkshireassociates.com.