On May 12, ABC joined with 15 organizations to send a letter to the U.S. Senate in support of the EEOC Reform Act (S. 2693.  This legislation aims to eliminate the “enormous and unreasonable administrative burdens” posed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) proposed revisions to the Employer Information Report (EEO-1), which would require employers with 100 or more employees to provide data on W-2 pay and hours worked, beginning in 2017.  

ABC is committed to compliance with laws prohibiting discrimination with respect to compensation.  However, ABC has serious concerns with the EEOC’s proposed revisions to the EEO-1 report. In the letter, ABC said that compliance with the EEO-1 revisions would be an “extremely onerous and costly administrative exercise for employers.”  Furthermore, ABC cautioned that the collected data would fail to identify discriminatory practices and would jeopardize the security of confidential employer information. 

The EEOC Reform Act prohibits the EEOC from moving forward with the EEO-1 revisions until it takes the following reasonable steps:

1. Collect and compile the same data from the executive branch departments and agencies, as well as the number of staff and staff hours it took to complete, and report the information to Congress. 
2. Create software and a comprehensive plan to demonstrate how it will use the data; and
3. Reduce its current backlog of discrimination complaints.

ABC’s letter also expressed support for the EEOC Reform Act’s efforts to “install common sense safeguards within the EEOC” to “protect against its abusive enforcement agenda,” including reinstatement of the Commissioners’ authority to approve EEOC litigation. 

EEOC Releases Guidance on Transgender Restroom Rights
The EEOC recently released a fact sheet to address transgender restroom rights in the workplace.  According to the fact sheet, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 recognizes discrimination based on gender identity as a form of sex discrimination. Accordingly, employers may not interfere with transgender employees’ access to common restrooms, even if such restriction is permitted under state law.

Title VII applies to federal, state and local government agencies and private employers with at least 15 employees.