Dean R. Singewald, II, Associate in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management and Litigation practices, in the firm’s Stamford office, was quoted in Law360 Employment Authority, in “EEOC Crackdown May Hint at Pay Data Requirement Reboot,” by Anne Cullen. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently took 15 companies to court over their alleged failure to furnish workforce demographic data, an unusual enforcement push that experts say may foreshadow a renewed effort by the EEOC to require employers to turn over pay information.
Under federal law, companies with 100 or more employees are required to submit data to the EEOC each year about their workforce, including information broken down by job category and by sex, race or ethnicity. Those details can be used for enforcement, analytics and research, and employer self-assessment, according to the agency. …
Fellow management-side attorneys added that the EEOC may also be wielding its litigation arm to shift employers into gear before making pay questions part of the data disclosure obligations. Those questions were once included as part of a shelved program known as the EEO-1 Component 2. …
The Component 2 program has a rocky history.
The EEOC originally finalized the initiative in 2016, but it was frozen by the Trump administration before collecting any data. A federal court ultimately reinstated the survey for a single go-round, during which the EEOC was able to gather wage information for 2017 and 2018.
The commission voted in 2019 to discontinue the effort. …
There hasn't been any official movement from the agency on reviving Component 2. An agency spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday on the future of the program.
However, it's a step that experts widely anticipate the EEOC will take before a potential administration shift in January 2025.
"Many in the legal industry believe it is not a matter of 'if' but 'when' such submission will be required," said Dean R. Singewald II, an associate at Epstein Becker Green who advises businesses on equal employment opportunity compliance.