New EEO-1 Report Approved

The EEOC’s revised EEO-1 report has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget, and becomes effective September 30, 2007. The EEO-1 is an anonymous report the EEOC uses to track the number of women and minorities in certain broad occupational categories. All private employers with 100 or more employees, as well as some federal contractors with 50 or more employees, are required to file an EEO-1 report annually. Employers will be expected to use the new form for the report due September 30, 2007. Until that time, employers are to use the previous EEO-1 form.

The new EEO-1 report includes changes to its race and ethnic categories, as well as changes to the job categories for employees. The changes to the race and ethnic categories include: (1) the addition of a new category for “Two or more races;” (2) splitting the “Asian or Pacific Islander” category into an “Asian” category and a “Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander” category; (3) renaming the “Black” category to “Black or African American;” and (4) renaming the “Hispanic” category as “Hispanic or Latino.”Employers are also strongly encouraged to allow employees to self-identify their races or ethnic groups.

As for the occupational categories, the “Officials and Managers” category has been split into two levels: (1) “Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers,” which are defined as those who “plan, direct and formulate policy, set strategy and provide overall direction,” and who, in larger organizations, are within two levels of the CEO; and (2) “First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers,” which are defined as those who “oversee day-to-day operations” and “direct implementation or operations within specific parameters set by Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers.”Also, business and financial occupations have jumped from the “Officials and Managers” category to the Professionals” category.