[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 227 (Monday, November 25, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64932-64933]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-25458]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
Intention Not To Request, Accept, or Use Employer Information
Report (EEO-1) Component 2 Data
AGENCY: Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
ACTION: Notice.
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[[Page 64933]]
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs (OFCCP) and the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) collect workforce data through the Employer
Information Report (EEO-1) (currently OMB Control No. 3046-0007) under
the Joint Reporting Committee. The EEOC's legal authority to collect
this data derives from Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, and OFCCP's
authority derives from Executive Order 11246. The EEO-1 collects
information from private employers and federal contractors regarding
the number of employees by job category, and by sex, race, and
ethnicity (Component 1). This information is shared between the two
agencies to avoid duplicative information collections and minimize the
burden on employers. A recent court decision, National Women's Law
Center v. Office of Management and Budget, 358 F. Supp. 3d 66 (D.D.C.
2019), appeal docketed, No. 19-5130 (D.C. Cir. May 8, 2019), ordered
reinstatement of the approval by the Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) of a 2016 revision to the EEO-1 that requires filers to
additionally submit aggregated employee pay and hours worked (Component
2). However, EEOC, the agency responsible for securing OMB approval of
the EEO-1 data collection under the Paperwork Reduction Act, has now
given notice that it does not intend to submit to OMB a request to
renew Component 2 under the current OMB control number, and it has
requested that Component 1 be assigned a new OMB control number. OFCCP
will not request, accept, or use Component 2 data, as it does not
expect to find significant utility in the data given limited resources
and its aggregated nature, but it will continue to receive EEO-1
Component 1 data.
DATES: This action is effective immediately.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harvey D. Fort, Deputy Director,
Division of Policy and Program Development, Office of Federal Contract
Compliance Programs, Room C-3325, 200 Constitution Avenue NW,
Washington, DC 20210. Telephone: (202) 693-0103 (voice) or (202) 693-
1337 (TTY) (these are not toll-free numbers). Copies of this notice may
be obtained in alternative formats (large print, braille, audio
recording) upon request by calling the numbers listed above.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: OFCCP administers and enforces Executive
Order 11246, as amended (E.O. 11246), which applies to federal
contractors and subcontractors. Executive Order 11246 prohibits
employment discrimination and requires affirmative action to ensure
equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin. It also
prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating
against applicants and employees for asking about, discussing, or
sharing information about their pay or the pay of their co-workers,
subject to certain limitations.
OFCCP has reviewed the parameters of the EEO-1 Component 2 data
collection and has determined that it does not find Component 2 data
necessary to accomplish its mission to ensure federal contractors are
not engaged in unlawful pay discrimination. This data is collected in a
format that is highly aggregated. Although the data could potentially
inform OFCCP's scheduling process for compliance evaluations, it is too
broad to provide much utility to OFCCP. The data is not collected at a
level of detail that would enable OFCCP to make comparisons among
similarly situated employees as required by the Title VII standards
that OFCCP applies in administering and enforcing Executive Order
11246. OFCCP receives up-to-date, employee-level pay data from
contractors that are selected for compliance evaluations. This data
enables OFCCP to identify disparities in pay that may violate Executive
Order 11246 by comparing the pay of employees who are similarly
situated under the contractors' pay practices. Therefore, OFCCP does
not need the EEO-1 Component 2 pay data for that purpose.
Analyzing EEO-1 Component 2 pay data would therefore put an
unnecessary financial burden on OFCCP. The agency's limited resources
do not support the enhanced scope of review of employer practices or
provide the human capital and technical capacity that would be required
to make use of the data.
Given the limited utility of the data for OFCCP's purposes within
the constraints of OFCCP's available resources, OFCCP will not request
or accept EEO-1 Component 2 data. OFCCP will continue to receive EEO-1
Component 1 data from covered contractors and subcontractors through
the Joint Reporting Committee for purposes of reviewing their
compliance with Executive Order 11246 and its implementing regulations,
including the reporting requirements at 41 CFR 60-1.7.
Harvey D. Fort,
Deputy Director, Division of Policy and Program Development, Office of
Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
[FR Doc. 2019-25458 Filed 11-22-19; 8:45 am]
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