EEOC Moves to Rescind Federal EEO-1 Reporting

On May 14, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) submitted a proposed rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), part of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), titled “Rescission of EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and Reporting Requirement Under Title VII, the ADA, GINA, and the PWFA.”

The proposal signals that the EEOC may try to eliminate long-standing federal equal employment opportunity reporting requirements, including the EEO-1 Component 1 report used by covered private employers and certain federal contractors.

This update applies to employers currently subject to federal EEO reporting, but it is not final. As of June 8, 2026, the proposal remained under OIRA review, and current reporting obligations were still in effect.

What Employers Need to Do

• Continue preparing for the 2025 EEO-1 filing cycle unless and until the rescission becomes final.

• Do not dismantle current demographic data tracking systems, because the proposal may take months and could face legal challenge or reversal.

• Confirm workforce snapshot data and job category assignments so reporting can be completed if the EEOC opens the 2026 filing portal.

• Assigning a responsible internal owner for EEO-1 compliance and monitoring of EEOC announcements.

• Review state and local reporting requirements separately, because federal changes would not eliminate state-level obligations.

Overview

The EEOC has begun the process of proposing a rollback of several federal EEO reporting requirements, including EEO-1 and related reports for unions, government employers, and school systems.

The publicly available government record is currently limited to the OIRA review entry, which identifies the proposal as an economically significant proposed rule.

No proposed regulatory text was publicly available yet through the OIRA entry, and the process had not advanced to Federal Register publication.

Current EEO-1 Framework Still Applies

• The EEO-1 Component 1 report remains a mandatory annual data collection for covered private employers with 100 or more employees and certain federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting specified criteria.
• The EEOC’s official EEO Data Collections page states that the 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection is closed and that updates regarding the 2025 EEO-1 Component 1 collection will be posted when available.
• As of June 8, 2026, the EEOC had not announced a 2026 filing deadline or opened the portal for the 2025 reporting cycle.

What the Proposal Appears to Cover

• The proposal title indicates the EEOC is seeking to rescind not just EEO-1, but also EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, and EEO-5 reporting requirements.
• The title also signals an effort to eliminate reporting requirements tied to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA).
• Covered reports currently apply to different filer groups, including private employers, certain labor unions, state and local governments, and public elementary-secondary school systems.

Rulemaking Process and Timing

• OIRA review is an early step in the federal rulemaking process under Executive Order 12866, and law firm sources note that OIRA review typically may take up to 90 days.
• If OIRA clears the proposal, the EEOC would still need to publish the proposed rule in the Federal Register, open a public comment period, and address related Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) requirements before any rescission could take effect.
• Because that process takes time, several law firm analyses conclude that employers should still assume reporting may be required for the 2025 cycle.

Litigation and Legal Risk

• Law firm analyses caution that agencies generally cannot rescind a long-standing reporting framework by announcement alone; they must satisfy Administrative Procedure Act (APA) requirements for reasoned rulemaking.
• Those analyses also point to prior litigation over the EEOC’s reporting changes, including a federal court decision requiring the EEOC to proceed with Component 2 pay data after the agency failed to provide a sufficient explanation for suspension.
• Even if a final rescission rule is published, law firm commentary notes that the change could still face litigation or congressional response.

Why This Matters

This proposal could significantly reduce federal workforce demographic reporting obligations if finalized, but it has not yet changed employer obligations.

Employers that assume filing is already canceled risk noncompliance if the EEOC opens the reporting cycle before the rescission process is complete.

Employers should stay prepared to file while monitoring rulemaking developments and should also be aware that state and local reporting obligations may remain in place even if the federal EEO-1 framework is eliminated.

Key Risks for Employers

• Treating the proposal as final and failing to prepare for a possible 2025 EEO-1 filing in 2026. The rescission is still in the rulemaking process, and the EEOC has not announced that any current filing cycle has been canceled.

• Dismantling demographic tracking processes too early and having to rebuild them on short notice. If the proposal is withdrawn, delayed, or blocked by legal challenge, employers will still need workforce data ready for reporting.

• Missing future EEOC updates because the portal has not yet opened and the agency has not announced a filing deadline. Employers without a designated internal owner for EEO-1 compliance may not catch announcements in time.

• Overlooking state or local pay-data or demographic-reporting obligations that may continue even if federal reporting changes. Eliminating the federal EEO-1 framework would not affect state-level requirements such as California’s pay data reporting or Illinois’s EEO reporting obligations.

Additional Information

The official government source reflecting the current status of the proposal is the OIRA Pending EO 12866 Regulatory Review page, which shows the proposal was received on May 14, 2026 and remains at the proposed rule stage.

The EEOC’s official EEO Data Collections page remains the best place to monitor whether the agency opens the next filing cycle or issues further instructions regarding the 2025 EEO-1 Component 1 collection.

Source References

OIRA – Rescission of EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4. EEO-5, And Reporting Requirement Under Title VII, the ADA, GINA, and the PWFA – 3046-AB37

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