Civil Rights Groups and Researchers Say Eliminating a 60-Year-Old Reporting Requirement Could Make Racial Disparities Across American Workplaces Harder to Identify
Civil rights advocates and researchers are warning that a Trump administration proposal to eliminate decades-old federal workforce reporting requirements could make discrimination against Black workers more difficult to detect.
The concerns intensified after a Tuesday, Aug. 11, hearing before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where 22 speakers testified about the agency’s proposal to eliminate annual demographic reports submitted by employers. Reporting has been used for decades to measure racial and gender disparities throughout the American workforce. Most opposed the change, while six speakers supported it.
The hearing comes weeks after the Republican-led EEOC voted 2-1 to begin the process of eliminating the reporting requirements. The proposal remains open for public comment through Aug. 24 and has not yet become final.
60 Years of Workplace Data Could Disappear
Since 1966, private employers with at least 100 workers and certain federal contractors with at least 50 employees have been required to submit EEO-1 reports containing information about the racial and sex makeup of their workforces across different job categories.
The reports give federal officials and researchers a broad view of who is being hired, promoted and placed in higher- or lower-paying positions.
Civil rights advocates argue that eliminating the reports would remove an important tool for identifying patterns of discrimination that may not be obvious from individual complaints.
Amalea Smirniotopoulos of the Legal Defense Fund warned during the hearing that weakening the EEOC’s enforcement tools would disproportionately affect Black workers and other workers of color who continue to report racial discrimination.
Researchers also told commissioners that no comparable source could easily replace the information.
Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has used EEO-1 information extensively in his research, warned that eliminating the collection would sharply reduce researchers’ ability to examine workplace inequality over time.
EEOC Says Reporting Is Burdensome and Unnecessary
The EEOC has taken a different position.
In its official proposal to eliminate the reporting requirements, the commission argues that routinely requiring employers to categorize workers by race and sex is unnecessary for enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws and places significant burdens on employers and the agency.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has also argued that collecting the information without a specific allegation of discrimination could conflict with what she describes as Title VII’s requirement for “colorblind” employment practices.
The agency maintains that its authority to obtain information connected to a specific discrimination investigation would remain intact even if the broader annual reporting system disappears.
Supporters of the proposal have similarly argued that demographic reporting can pressure companies to consider race or sex in employment decisions.
But representatives from two employer groups told the commission they had seen little evidence that businesses were using EEO-1 reports to establish racial quotas. Instead, they said employers frequently use demographic information themselves to identify hiring and promotion practices that could unintentionally disadvantage certain workers.
Black Workers Could Lose a Key Measure of Workplace Inequality
The fight comes amid a broader shift in federal civil rights policy under President Donald Trump and his administration’s continued push against diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
For civil rights groups, however, the dispute over workforce data goes beyond corporate DEI programs. They argue the information provides one of the few consistent ways to see whether racial disparities persist throughout industries and across decades.
If the EEOC ultimately approves the proposal, employers could continue collecting demographic information for their own compliance and workplace analyses. They would no longer, however, be required to submit the federal workforce reports covered by the rule.
The public has until Aug. 24 to submit comments before the commission determines whether to make the changes final.
