Each September, we remind dealers who employ over 100 workers in the dealership or in a group of affiliated dealerships to file their EEO-1 reports. These reports allow the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to judge the progress of employment for individuals in protected classes. We advise dealers that filing is important, not only because the law requires it, but because it indicates compliance if the dealership’s practices are ever challenged in a court case.
The EEOC, in a notice issued January 29, 2016, has proposed revisions to the EEO-1 form that would require reporting of pay to workers by race, gender, and ethnicity.
Claiming that the change is to further the Obama administration’s equal pay goals, the Commission announced that it will accept comments until April 1, 2016 at tinyurl.com/new-EEO-1-rule. Under the proposed rule, beginning with the September 2017 EEO-1 report, employers must provide information on pay ranges and hours worked. The EEOC claims that the information will allow it to publish data to help employers judge their own pay practices to facilitate voluntary compliance. But one must be realistic – the purpose is to allow the EEOC to use the date to assess complaints of discrimination based on perceived or alleged pay disparities.