EEO-1 Report (US)
An annual compliance report filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by employers with 100 or more employees (or federal contractors with 50+ employees and $50,000+ in contracts) that provides workforce demographic data broken down by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category.
- What Is the EEO-1 Report?
- Who Must File the EEO-1 Report?
- EEO-1 Job Categories Explained
- Race and Ethnicity Classifications
- How to File the EEO-1 Report
- EEO-1 Pay Data: Component 2 History and Current Status
- EEO-1 Data Disclosure and Transparency
- EEO-1 Filing Best Practices for HR Teams
- EEO-1 Filing Statistics [2026]
- Frequently Asked Questions About the EEO-1 Report
What Is the EEO-1 Report?
Key Takeaways
- ✓The EEO-1 report (formally, Standard Form 100) is a mandatory annual filing that provides the EEOC with a snapshot of an employer's workforce demographics, organized by job category, race/ethnicity, and sex.
- ✓Private employers with 100+ employees and federal contractors with 50+ employees and $50,000+ in federal contracts must file. The threshold is based on the number of employees during a single pay period of the filing year.
- ✓The report covers 10 job categories (from Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers to Service Workers) and 7 race/ethnicity classifications plus sex (male/female).
- ✓The EEOC uses EEO-1 data to support civil rights enforcement, identify potential patterns of discrimination, and determine which employers to investigate. Beginning in 2023, the EEOC started exploring the potential collection of pay data alongside demographic data.
- ✓Multi-establishment employers must file a separate report for each physical location with 50+ employees, plus a headquarters report and a consolidated report. Locations with fewer than 50 employees can be combined into a single "establishment list" report.
The EEO-1 report has been a cornerstone of federal employment discrimination enforcement since 1966. It gives the EEOC a window into the demographic composition of large employers' workforces, enabling pattern-or-practice investigations and targeted enforcement. For employers, it's both a compliance obligation and a mirror. Preparing the EEO-1 forces you to look at your workforce composition by job level and demographic group. When 2% of your executives are Black and 45% of your service workers are Black, the report makes that disparity visible in a way that aggregate diversity percentages don't. The report itself is relatively simple: a grid of job categories by race/ethnicity and sex. But the preparation process involves significant data work: classifying every employee into the correct job category, verifying self-reported race/ethnicity data, handling multi-establishment filings, and reconciling HRIS data with payroll records. Companies with thousands of employees across dozens of locations often spend weeks preparing their filings.
Who Must File the EEO-1 Report?
Filing obligations depend on employer size, federal contractor status, and organizational structure.
Private employers
Any private employer with 100 or more employees must file. The count includes all employees on the payroll during any single pay period of the filing year (typically the workforce snapshot pay period chosen by the employer). Part-time, temporary, and seasonal workers count toward the threshold. The 100-employee threshold applies to the entire company, not individual locations. A company with 5 locations of 20 employees each (100 total) must file.
Federal contractors
Federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors with 50 or more employees and a federal contract, subcontract, or purchase order of $50,000 or more must file. Each federal depository institution (bank) with 50+ employees must also file regardless of contract value. The contractor threshold is lower than the private employer threshold, meaning some companies file only because of their federal contractor status.
Multi-establishment filing
Employers with multiple physical locations must file: a headquarters report (Type 2), an individual establishment report for each location with 50+ employees (Type 4), an establishment list for locations with fewer than 50 employees (Type 6), and a consolidated report for the entire company (Type 8). Locations with fewer than 50 employees can be combined, but the employer can't skip them entirely. Every employee must appear somewhere in the filing.
EEO-1 Job Categories Explained
The 10 EEO-1 job categories define how employees are classified in the report. Correct classification is essential for compliance.
| Category Number | Category Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers | Top executives (CEO, CFO, COO, SVP) who set organizational direction and policy |
| 1.2 | First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers | Directors, department heads, branch managers who implement organizational policies |
| 2 | Professionals | Jobs requiring bachelor's degree or higher: engineers, accountants, lawyers, analysts |
| 3 | Technicians | Jobs requiring applied scientific skills: lab technicians, IT support, drafters |
| 4 | Sales Workers | Jobs primarily involving direct sales: account executives, retail associates, sales reps |
| 5 | Administrative Support Workers | Clerical and administrative staff: assistants, receptionists, data entry, bookkeepers |
| 6 | Craft Workers | Skilled trades: electricians, plumbers, machinists, carpenters |
| 7 | Operatives | Semi-skilled workers: machine operators, assemblers, truck drivers, material handlers |
| 8 | Laborers and Helpers | Unskilled workers: janitors, warehouse workers, groundskeepers, freight handlers |
| 9 | Service Workers | Food service, cleaning, security, personal care: cooks, janitors, guards |
Race and Ethnicity Classifications
The EEO-1 uses seven race/ethnicity categories based on OMB standards. Employees self-identify, but employers must handle situations where employees decline to self-identify.
The seven categories
Hispanic or Latino (of any race). 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). Hispanic/Latino is treated as an ethnicity, not a race, and takes precedence: an employee who identifies as Hispanic and White is reported as Hispanic or Latino.
Self-identification and observer identification
Employers should invite employees to self-identify their race and ethnicity. If an employee declines, the employer may use visual observation or existing employment records to make a classification. The EEOC prefers self-identification and has provided a standard self-identification form. Note that employees can't be forced to self-identify. If self-identification and observer identification both fail, the employer must still include the employee in the report using the best available information.
How to File the EEO-1 Report
The filing process has moved entirely online and follows an annual cycle set by the EEOC.
Filing timeline
The EEOC typically opens the filing portal in late spring or early summer each year, with a deadline in the fall. However, timelines have been inconsistent: the 2021 and 2022 EEO-1 collections were combined due to COVID-related delays, and the 2023 collection opened later than usual. The EEOC announces the filing window through its website and direct email to registered filers. Most employers choose a workforce snapshot pay period between October and December of the prior year.
Data preparation
Pull a headcount from your HRIS as of the chosen snapshot pay period. Classify each employee by EEO-1 job category, race/ethnicity, and sex. Verify the data against payroll records to ensure all employees are captured. For multi-establishment employers, assign each employee to the correct physical location. Reconcile any discrepancies between HRIS and payroll data (common issues include employees coded to the wrong location, missing demographic data, and job title-to-category mapping errors). Most HRIS platforms (Workday, ADP, UKG, BambooHR) have EEO-1 report generation features, but the output usually needs manual review.
Submission and certification
Reports are filed through the EEOC's EEO-1 Component 1 Online Filing System. The designated company official must certify the report. Companies can file manually through the portal or upload a data file in the prescribed format. After submission, the EEOC sends an acknowledgment. Retain copies of filed reports for at least 3 years (some attorneys recommend keeping them indefinitely since the data can be relevant in litigation).
EEO-1 Pay Data: Component 2 History and Current Status
The question of whether the EEO-1 should collect pay data has been politically contentious and reflects broader tensions around pay equity enforcement.
Component 2 collection (2019-2020)
In 2016, the Obama administration approved adding pay data and hours worked to the EEO-1 (Component 2). The Trump administration stayed the collection in 2017, but a federal court ordered it reinstated in 2019. The EEOC collected Component 2 data for 2017 and 2018 pay years from approximately 60,000 employers. The data covered W-2 earnings and hours worked, broken down by EEO-1 job category, race/ethnicity, and sex across 12 pay bands. The EEOC completed the collection in 2020 and subsequently ended the Component 2 requirement.
Current status and future direction
As of 2024, the EEO-1 requires only demographic data (Component 1), not pay data. However, the EEOC has published research based on the Component 2 data it collected, and several states (California, Illinois) now require employers to submit pay data reports at the state level. California's SB 1162 requires employers with 100+ employees to file annual pay data reports with the state Department of Civil Rights. Illinois requires similar reporting. These state requirements are filling the gap left by the federal pause on pay data collection.
EEO-1 Data Disclosure and Transparency
Whether EEO-1 data should be public has become a major discussion as stakeholders push for workforce transparency.
Current confidentiality rules
Section 709(e) of Title VII makes EEO-1 data confidential. The EEOC can't release company-specific data to the public. However, the EEOC publishes aggregate data showing industry-level workforce demographics. Some companies voluntarily publish their EEO-1 reports (Apple, Google, Meta, Nike) as part of corporate transparency initiatives. Others disclose workforce demographics in proxy statements or ESG reports without publishing the actual EEO-1 form.
Voluntary disclosure trend
Institutional investors, particularly large asset managers like BlackRock and State Street, have increasingly pressured portfolio companies to disclose EEO-1 data. Several shareholder proposals requesting EEO-1 disclosure have received majority support in recent years. Companies that voluntarily disclose report that the data is often less alarming than feared, and transparency builds credibility with employees and stakeholders. Companies that resist disclosure face the perception of having something to hide.
EEO-1 Filing Best Practices for HR Teams
Accurate EEO-1 filing requires year-round data hygiene, not just a sprint before the deadline.
- Maintain clean demographic data in your HRIS year-round. When employees don't self-identify race/ethnicity during onboarding, follow up within 30 days. The more complete your self-identification data, the more accurate your report.
- Create a job-title-to-EEO-1-category mapping document and review it annually. As new roles are created, assign EEO-1 categories immediately rather than retroactively. Inconsistent mapping is the most common filing error.
- For multi-establishment employers, verify employee-to-location assignments quarterly. Employees who transfer between locations but aren't updated in the HRIS create filing errors.
- Use the EEOC's Job Classification Guide to resolve ambiguous job classifications. If a role could fit multiple categories, consider the primary duties and required qualifications, not the job title.
- Reconcile HRIS headcount against payroll headcount before filing. Discrepancies typically come from terminated employees not yet removed from HRIS, new hires not yet in the system, or employees on unpaid leave with different active/inactive statuses across systems.
- Retain filed EEO-1 reports, supporting data, and the workforce snapshot indefinitely. Plaintiffs in discrimination cases routinely subpoena historical EEO-1 data, and multi-year trends can be either your best defense or your worst evidence.
EEO-1 Filing Statistics [2026]
Key data points about the EEO-1 reporting program and workforce demographics enforcement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I don't file an EEO-1 report?
Do I count independent contractors on the EEO-1?
Can the EEOC share my EEO-1 data publicly?
How do I classify remote workers by establishment?
What if an employee refuses to self-identify their race/ethnicity?
Written by Adithyan RK