On May 14, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) submitted a proposed rule that could eliminate the long-standing requirement that employers file EEO-1 reports. Importantly, this change is not yet in effect. The proposal must still go through the federal rulemaking process, which can take several months. This week, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) concluded its review, signaling that the proposal to revoke EEO-1 forms and other demographic data collections for employers will soon be published in the Federal Register. For now, employers should continue to comply with their data collection obligations and be prepared to file an EEO-1 report if the EEOC opens a filing window in 2026.
What is the EEO-1? The EEO-1 is a mandatory annual data collection that requires all private employers with 100 or more employees and certain federal contractors to submit workforce demographic information, including data by job category and sex and race or ethnicity, to the EEOC. Reports are usually filed in the spring during a collection window announced by the EEOC, but the agency has not yet announced a collection window for this year.
Proposed Rescission of the EEO-1 Report. The text of the proposed rule has not yet been made public, but the title listed on the OMB’s website is “Rescission of EEO-1, EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and Reporting Requirement Under Title VII, the ADA, GINA, and the PWFA,” reflecting the agency’s plans to eliminate several EEO reporting requirements. Employers should be aware that the proposed rescission is still in its early stages, and several steps must be completed before a final rule rescinding the reporting requirement is published. These steps include publication in the Federal Register, a public comment period, and publication of a final rule. The notice-and-rulemaking process usually takes several months to complete.
State Responses. Colorado has enacted a law that requires covered employers to report EEO-1 workforce demographic data at the state level, even if federal EEO-1 reporting is eliminated. Specifically, HB 26-1207 – Disclosure of Demographic Workforce Data obligates qualifying private employers conducting business in Colorado, who have 100 or more workers, to report EEO-1 workforce demographic data at the state level beginning July 1, 2027, regardless of whether federal EEO-1 reporting endures.
Importantly, Colorado has inserted its workforce demographic reporting directly into its existing business entity filing structure (rather than creating a unique EEO/civil rights reporting system), in effect removing the confidentiality protections that applied to federal EEO-1 data. Therefore, employers will want to assess whether they are covered, confirm their data collection processes and procedures remain intact, and begin updating their government reporting timelines to include this reporting, as well as any other state reporting obligations that may arise.
States responding to the EEOC’s effort to halt EEO-1 data collection by instituting their own EEO reporting requirements will join several states, including California, Illinois, and Massachusetts, that have already enacted state-level employment data reporting requirements. It will be particularly important to watch for any changes to the Massachusetts reporting requirement, which involves covered employers submitting their most recent federal EEO-1 reports annually.