On March 16, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission heard testimony from a variety of advocacy groups, academics and employer representatives on with regard to its proposed revisions to the EEO-1 adding W-2 pay data. Gary Siniscalco from Orrick provided testimony as an employer representative. Click here for Gary’s testimony.

While Commissioners were careful not to offer their own opinions, it seemed apparent from the questions that a majority of the Commissioners likely will approve a revision to the form.

However, they did appear to understand that one way to reduce the burden on employers would be to change the W-2 timing to end of January each year to reconcile the W-2 reporting to the IRS. There was also substantial discussion about the broad and variable nature of the types of compensation contained in the W-2, combined with the broad EEO-1 occupational categories, resulting in pay comparisons with many false positives and false negatives.

The panel commenters also addressed the requirements for compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). Since the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) must approve revisions to the form, the battle may shift to OMB and compliance with the PRA once EEOC gives makes its decision on the EEO-1 form and sends it to OMB for final review and approval. The EEOC called for final comments and submissions by April 1, although it is possible that date could be extended.