September 30 is the deadline date for some employers filing an EEO-1 Report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Here’s help with doing a last-minute check to make sure your report complies with EEOC rules. 

The EEOC uses the EEO-1 Report to analyze patterns of employment discrimination, enforce civil rights regs and evaluate employers’ efforts at hiring females and minorities. All of that has put pressure on the agency to ensure it’s getting accurate data from you. To make sure of that, EEOC has made some changes for 2008 in how it expects to receive the data and how you obtain it.

Some of the standards were optional last year – as a transition phase – but are now required.

 Here’s a guide on what to check for in your EEO-1, from the law firm of McGuire Woods:

 Key changes introduced as optional in 2007 and mandatory in 2008

• Adoption of self-identification as the preferred method of determining race and ethnicity
• Preference for a two-step inquiry in seeking employee self-identification
• Creation of new race and ethnicity categories: Hispanic or Latino” (instead of “Hispanic”), “Black or African American” (instead of “Black”), “Asian” and “Pacific Islander” (two categories to replace the previous single “Asian and Pacific Islander” category), and a new “Two or More Races” category
• Changes in the definition and number of job categories (e.g., subdividing “Officials and Managers” into Executive / Senior Level and First / Mid-Level Officials and Managers; movement of some occupations to Professionals or Operatives; renaming some job categories), and
• Mandatory race and ethnicity reporting by employers in Hawaii (which previously only had to report gender).

Note: The new form strongly encourages employers (a) to ask their employees to self-identify their race or ethnicity and (b) only to rely on visual identification when an employee refuses to self-identify. It is not permissible, however, to force employees to declare their racial classification.

The Two-Question Format

In addition to the above category changes, the EEOC prefers that employers use a two-question, Q&A format when asking for self-identification of race/ethnicity. Under the envisioned structure, employees are asked:

1. Are you Hispanic or Latino?

2. If you answered “No”, please select one of the following categories that best describes your race/ethnicity:

• White (Not Hispanic or Latino).
• Black or African American (Not Hispanic or Latino).
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (Not Hispanic or Latino).
• Asian (Not Hispanic or Latino).
• American Indian or Alaska Native (Not Hispanic or Latino).
• Two or More Races (Not Hispanic or Latino).

According to the EEOC, this revised structure is required because the category “Hispanic or Latino” is an ethnicity category that describes “a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.” (Emphasis added). The other listed EEO-1 categories (e.g., White, Black or African American) relate to racial categories for individuals who are otherwise not included in the “Hispanic or Latino” ethnicity grouping. The EEOC also favors the two-question format on the grounds that it has been shown to yield more accurate data about Hispanics and Latinos.

Two or More Races

Although the EEOC adopted a new “Two or More Races” category for the EEO-1, the regulations do not require employers to detail which racial combinations constitute that category. The EEOC cited statistics that showed only 2.4% of respondents identified themselves in the “Two or More Races” category in the 2000 Census.

Click here to access a PDF of the latest format for the EEO-1.  Click here for the full instruction booklet on filling out the EEO-1.

Tags: EEO-1, eeoc, equal employment opportunity commission