EEOC Votes to Propose Rescinding the EEO-1 and Other Workforce Data Reports

Employers have been required to file the EEO-1 report since 1966, submitting an annual accounting of their workforce by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category. On July 21, 2026, the EEOC voted 2-1 to move forward with a proposed rule that would eliminate it, along with several related surveys.

What Happened

The EEOC voted along party lines to propose eliminating the EEO-1, EEO-3, EEO-4, and EEO-5 workforce demographic reports. The proposal was published in the Federal Register on July 23, 2026, opening a 30-day public comment period through August 24, 2026, with a public hearing set for August 11 (testimony requests due August 7).

What EEO Reporting Is

The EEO-1 is an annual filing requiring private employers with 100 or more employees, and certain federal contractors with at least 50 employees, to report their workforce by job category, sex, and race or ethnicity. Similar, generally biennial reports—EEO-3, EEO-4, and EEO-5—apply to unions, state and local governments, and public school systems. These reports help the EEOC identify demographic patterns worth investigating and analyze workforce trends by industry.

Chair Andrea Lucas argued the reporting requirement is overly burdensome and may pressure employers into race- or sex-based staffing adjustments to correct statistical imbalances, which she says is unlawful under Title VII. The EEOC also contends that collecting this demographic data on such a broad scale improperly classifies people by race without sufficient justification. Commissioner Kotagal dissented, arguing there is no evidence the reports lead to biased decisions and that eliminating them would raise enforcement costs and weaken civil rights enforcement.

What the Vote Means (and What It Does NOT Mean)

This is a proposal, not a final rule. Before any rescission takes effect, the EEOC must review public comments, issue a final rule, and survive any legal challenges, a process expected to take several months. Until then, current EEO reporting obligations remain fully in effect, including the September 30 EEO-1 filing deadline, and the EEOC can still request workforce records from an individual employer during an active charge investigation. The EEOC has not yet opened the 2026 EEO-1 filing portal, but employers should plan to file as usual unless told otherwise.

What Employers Should Do Now

• Keep complying. Continue maintaining employee self-identification processes and collecting the demographic data needed for EEO-1, EEO-3, EEO-4, or EEO-5 filings if your organization is a covered filer.
• Prepare for a possible 2026 filing. Given the September 30 deadline, make sure your workforce data (job category, race/ethnicity, sex, and location information from a Q4 2025 pay period) is ready in case the EEOC opens the filing portal.
• Watch the Federal Register comment period. Comments are due by August 24, 2026. Employers with views on the burden or value of EEO reporting should consider submitting a comment, individually or through an industry group.
• Don’t forget state and local obligations. Even if federal EEO reporting disappears, state-level demographic and pay-data reporting laws in states like California, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York City remain in place, and other states may adopt their own. Massachusetts ties its reporting obligation to the federal EEO-1 requirement, so rescission could affect that state law absent legislative action. Connecticut employers with operations in other states should check now whether those requirements apply to them.
• Keep using data lawfully. Regardless of what happens to the EEO Reports, the law still prohibits race- and sex-based employment decisions, so any demographic data your organization collects voluntarily should never be used to drive decisions based on group outcomes rather than individual merit.

We will continue to track this rulemaking and provide updates.