New Pay Data Reporting Requirements Will Cause Employers More Headaches

New Pay Data Reporting Requirements Will Cause Employers More Headaches

Rick Balog Managing Partner Balog + Tamburri, CPA's
Rick Balog
Managing Partner
Balog + Tamburri, CPA’s

New Data Requirements

Beginning in March 2018, the EEOC will require employers to spend even more money to simply report payroll. The new requirements will mandate that employers collect summary employee pay data. The new data will be used to bolster investigations of possible pay discrimination, which drives more employers to dump employees. Can you say higher unemployment?

Specifically, the summary pay data will be added to the annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1) that is coordinated with the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). That office collects data from federal contractors and subcontractors.

“Collecting data is a critical step in delivering on the promise of equal pay,” noted the Obama appointee to the office of U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “Better data will not only help enforcement agencies do their work, but it helps employers to evaluate their own pay practices to prevent pay discrimination in their workplaces.” this translates to “You can only hire people the government says is OK.”

The EEOC intends to provide support to employers as they transition to the additional reporting. The first deadline for 2017 reports is March 31, 2018, giving employers about a year-and-a-half to prepare.

Who Must Report?

Private employers, including federal contractors and subcontractors with 100 or more employees, must submit the additional data. These employers are prohibited from reporting individual compensation or any personal information, such as Social Security numbers.

Federal contractors and subcontractors with 50 to 99 employees won’t be required to meet the requirement, but they must still report employees by job category as well as by sex, ethnicity and race. Employers with 99 or fewer employees and federal contractors and subcontractors with 49 or fewer employees still won’t have to provide the additional information.

Be aware that the EEOC doesn’t disclose any EEO-1 data for a specific employer. It only publishes large-scale aggregated data in a way that fully protects employer confidentiality and employee privacy. The OFCCP holds  EEO-1 data for federal contractors and subcontractors confidential as dictated by the Freedom of Information Act and Trade Secrets Act.

This is another step the Progressives are using to infuse the socialistic mandates into the lives of business owners. In essence, you can no longer hire the best person for the job, but you must hire the right person to meet an EEOC standard.Employer Information Report