Federal: EEOC Submits Non-Substantive Changes to EEO-1 Instructions

What happened?

On April 23, 2025, the EEOC submitted a justification for non-substantive changes to EEO-1 instructions as well as its updated 2024 EEO-1 Instruction Booklet to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This submission is part of the standard process for updating federal data collection instructions and ensuring compliance with new regulations and executive orders.

Overview:

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) will review the submission for compliance and accuracy. Once approved, the EEOC will publish the final version and update its online filing system. Employers can then access the updated instructions and prepare for the 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection period.

• Important Dates: The proposal indicates that the EEO-1 Component 1 data collection will open on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, with a filing deadline of 11 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. Final opening and closing dates will be published on EEOC’s official EEO-1 website. 

• Filing Requirements: The proposed 2024 Instruction Booklet requires federal contractor employers with fifty or more employees (but fewer than one hundred employees) to file EEO-1 reports.

• Shortened Reporting Period: The reporting period is shortened to five weeks, from May 20, 2025, to June 24, 2025.

• Changes to Reporting by Sex: The booklet eliminates the option to report non-binary employees, providing only binary options (male or female) for reporting employee counts, in compliance with Executive Order 14168.

• Reporting Based on EO 11246 Continues: Despite the rescission of Executive Order 11246, federal contractors with fifty or more employees are still required to file EEO-1 reports for the 2024 cycle.
  

Additional Details

Proposed Non-Substantive Changes:

• Removal of Voluntary Reporting for Non-Binary Employees:
  
  • The EEOC seeks to remove the option for respondents to voluntarily report employees as “non-binary” in compliance with Executive Order 14168, which mandates that agency forms list only “male” or “female” and not request gender identity.
  • This change is considered non-substantive, supported by guidance from OIRA issued on February 11, 2025.

• Streamlining the EEO-1 Collection Process:
  
  • Edits are proposed to simplify the collection process for the 2024 reporting period, including removing language about “Notice of Failure to File” and references to postal mail notifications.

• Updates to Undue Hardship Requests:
  
  • Revisions reflect changes to the EEOC’s EEO-1 regulations effective January 10, 2025, concerning how undue hardship requests are processed.

• Removal of Inoperable Link:
  
  • A footnote in Appendix B containing a non-functional whitehouse.gov link will be removed.

Source References

• 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 Instruction Booklet – Proposed Revision
• EEOC Revision Justification 
• ICR Documents/Location of proposal 
• EEO-1

Resources

• EEOC – Data and Analytics – Overview

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