June 10, 2026
Summary by Bloomberg AI
- The EEOC’s proposal to revoke requirements for employers to report race and sex data puts companies in uncharted territory, forcing them to consider if and how they can continue such practices.
- Companies may still be required to gather information based on separate agency guidelines and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act responsibilities, labor and employment attorneys said.
- Maintaining data found in EEO-1 reports can be helpful for employers to ensure they’re not engaging in discriminatory practices and to defend themselves against charges, according to attorneys.
The EEOC’s pending proposal to revoke longstanding requirements for employers to report race and sex data for their workforce puts companies in uncharted territory, forcing them to consider if and how they can continue such practices.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission submitted a plan in May to the White House to rescindEEO-1 and other employer data collection forms, but further details aren’t yet published.
Without the agency’s data collection, companies may still be required to gather information based on separate agency guidelines and Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act responsibilities, labor and employment attorneys said. Despite scrutiny from the Trump administration over use of EEO-1data, employers may still see good reasons to collect it.
“I don’t think sticking your head in the sand and being blind to the data is going to go over well,” said Christine Webber, a partner at plaintiff-side firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.
The EEO-1 forms require private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees to submit data by sex, race or ethnicity, and job category.
The EEOC also created joint Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures in 1978 with four other federal agencies to provide guidance for employers on whether their hiring tests and selection procedures were lawful under Title VII.
The guidelines state employers should maintain records disclosing the impact its selection procedures have upon employment opportunities for people identifiable by race, sex, or ethnic group. The records are to be maintained in a way that is consistent with EEO-1 forms, the guidelines said.
The guidelines require companies continue to maintain the data even without submitting EEO-1 forms, several employment attorneys said.
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Regardless of requirements, maintaining data found in EEO-1 reports can be helpful for employers to ensure they’re not engaging in discriminatory practices and to defend themselves against charges, Webber said.
If companies don’t maintain that data, it will make litigation more expensive for both sides, but attorneys representing workers will still be able to access other data to prove their cases through other forms or comparisons with public reports, she said.
Read Deep Dive: EEOC Report’s End Would Make Employers Rethink Race, Sex Data.