By a 2-1 vote, on July 21, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) voted to issue a proposed rule to rescind the requirement for employers to file annual EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and EEO-6 reports and the related recordkeeping requirements. The EEOC has determined that the reports, which summarize aggregate data on race and sex, are “inconsistent with equal employment opportunity law and potentially unconstitutional.” In addition, the EEOC concluded that the data collection requirement is not narrowly tailored, that it is unnecessary to enforce anti-discrimination laws, and that any marginal benefits are outweighed by the substantial burden on employers and the EEOC.
The EEO-1 filing requirement, which applies to private employers with 100 or more employees, has been in place since 1966. Over the years, the EEOC has used employer EEO filings to build data sets of aggregate-level statistics on job patterns for minorities and women in private industries.
EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas commented that “[b]ecause the EEO Data Reports require all covered employers to categorize employees by race and sex annually, disconnected from any allegation of a Title VII violation or related Commission enforcement proceeding, the EEO Data Reports stand in direct tension with Title VII’s requirement that employment practices be colorblind.” She noted, however, that the EEOC’s authority to request specific records relating to an EEOC investigation remains unchanged.
EEO Leaders, a group that includes former officials from the EEOC and the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, issued a statement disagreeing with the proposed rule. “Rescission of these valuable data collections will undermine the EEOC’s ability to evaluate and investigate charges that have been filed with it, as well as to tailor its outreach and guidance to industries or areas where evidence indicates barriers may exist. If adopted as a final rule, the proposal would deprive employers of information about their industries that can provide early-warning signals of potential discrimination in their own workplaces.”
The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register on July 23, 2026. Comments on the proposed rule may be submitted through August 24, 2026. Until final action is taken, employers should continue to collect the data required to complete the reports.
