The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is trying to help concerned federal contractors ensure every employee is accurately accounted for in their EEO-1 reports, personally tackling the subject of non-binary individuals.
With 12% of millennials in a 2017 Harris Poll saying they don’t identify solely as male or female, employers see the challenge of appropriately documenting the modern makeup of their workforce. The EEO-1 Report doesn’t currently have a way to report on individuals who do not fall into the male/female category, so the EEOC is looking to remedy the problem – at least for the time being.
EEOC updated its FAQ section regarding the 2017 and 2018 compensation data requirements. A question featured EEO-1 Component 2 data collection, with the inquiry asking how they can report on employees who go “beyond the male/female binary.” The EEOC responded with this:
“Filers may report employee counts and labor hours for non-binary gender employees by job category and pay band and racial group in the comment box on the Certification Page, please preface this data with the phrase ‘Additional Employee Data.'”
It appears to be a win-win situation at the moment, as utilizing the narrative comment section is an accepted practice for other details that don’t fit into the boxes provided on the form. This temporary solution should help employers’ confidence, believing the required data will be as accurate as possible; meanwhile, non-binary employees will feel like they are being appropriately recognized in the process.
It remains to be seen if the EEO-1 report will be formally revised at any point to include this guidance by EEOC. Keep up-to-date on changes regarding this topic and others on our DOL Highlights section and the rest of Circa’s OFCCP resources.
