If your company employs 100 or more people, you must file an EEO-1 Component 1 report with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission each year, breaking down your workforce by job category, sex, and race or ethnicity. The EEO-1 reporting requirements also reach federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors at a lower threshold of 50 employees, though that piece is in flux after recent executive action. The EEOC collects the data under Section 709(c) of Title VII, which authorizes the agency to require the records and reports it needs to enforce federal anti-discrimination law.1GovInfo. 42 USC 2000e-8
Who Has To File
Two groups of employers are covered. Any private-sector employer with 100 or more employees must file, counting both full-time and part-time workers on the payroll during the reporting period. Federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors with 50 or more employees that hold a qualifying federal contract have historically had to file as well.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Legal Requirements
The private-employer rule sits in 29 CFR 1602.7 and draws directly from Title VII.3eCFR. 29 CFR 1602.7 The contractor rule sits in 29 CFR 1602.12 and was historically tied to Executive Order 11246.
The Contractor Question After EO 11246 Was Revoked
Executive Order 14173, signed on January 20, 2025, revoked EO 11246 and directed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to stop enforcing affirmative action requirements against contractors and subcontractors.4The White House. Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Contractors received a 90-day transition window. OFCCP has closed pending compliance reviews built on EO 11246 and rescinded implementing regulations.5U.S. Department of Labor. Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
The EEO-1 itself, however, rests on Title VII authority rather than solely on EO 11246, and the EEOC’s current guidance still lists federal contractors with 50 or more employees as required filers.6U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO Data Collections Until the EEOC formally changes its regulations or guidance, contractors that meet the traditional threshold should treat the filing obligation as live.
What the Report Collects
Each employee is counted exactly once, placed in a single job category and a single demographic classification.
Job Categories
The report uses 10 job categories. Two cover management: executive and senior-level officials who set broad policy, and first- and mid-level managers running day-to-day operations. The remaining eight are Professionals, Technicians, Sales Workers, Administrative Support Workers, Craft Workers, Operatives, Laborers and Helpers, and Service Workers.7U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO-1 Job Classification Guide Employers commonly consult Standard Occupational Classification codes to sort employees whose roles could fit two groups.
Race, Ethnicity, and Sex
Each employee is also reported by sex and by one of seven race or ethnicity categories:
- Hispanic or Latino
- White
- Black or African American
- Asian
- American Indian or Alaska Native
- Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
- Two or More Races
Hispanic or Latino is treated as an ethnicity and collected independently. Any employee identified as Hispanic or Latino is reported in that category regardless of racial background.
Self-identification is the preferred method. Employers must give employees a voluntary opportunity to identify their own race, ethnicity, and sex, with a statement that the inquiry is voluntary. If an employee declines, the employer may rely on existing employment records or visual observation.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO-1 Instruction Booklet
Starting with the 2024 collection, sex is reported using only two options: male or female. The EEOC previously permitted voluntary reporting of nonbinary employees and eliminated that option consistent with Executive Order 14168.
The Workforce Snapshot
The report reflects a single pay period rather than a full year. Choose any pay period between October 1 and December 31 of the reporting year. Anyone on payroll during that pay period counts, even if they left shortly after. You are not required to use the same pay period each year.
One anti-avoidance rule matters. If your headcount crosses the 100-employee threshold at any point during the fourth quarter, you cannot pick a pay period where you dip below it to escape filing. The EEOC put that rule in place starting with the 2023 cycle.
How To File
The EEOC accepts EEO-1 reports only through its web-based Online Filing System at eeocdata.org/eeo1. Paper, email, and other electronic formats are not accepted, and a submission that arrives any other way is treated as non-compliant.
You will need to register an account and designate a certifying official before submitting data. Two entry methods are available:
- Manual data entry, where you type employee counts directly into the portal by job category, sex, and race or ethnicity. This suits smaller organizations with a single location.
- Data file upload, where you prepare a formatted file matching EEOC specifications and upload it in bulk. Larger employers and multi-location filers generally use this route.
Multi-Establishment Employers
If you operate from more than one physical location, you file more than one report. You must submit a headquarters report, separate establishment reports for each location with 50 or more employees, and either individual reports or a combined list for locations with fewer than 50 employees. All of these roll up into a consolidated report covering every employee, and the totals across the individual reports must match the consolidated figure.8U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO-1 Instruction Booklet
Certification and the Filing Window
Entering data is not the same as filing. A designated company official must certify the submission by affirming the reported information is correct and true. The certification statement warns that knowingly false statements are punishable under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, the federal false statements statute. Until that certification step is completed inside the portal, the EEOC treats the report as incomplete.
The filing window typically opens in the spring for the prior year’s data. For the 2024 reporting cycle, the portal opened on May 20, 2025, and closed on June 24, 2025. The EEOC said the collection period would not extend beyond that date. Windows and deadlines shift year to year, so check the EEOC’s current-cycle announcements before you plan around them.
Records You Have To Keep
Filing is only part of the obligation. EEOC rules require you to retain the personnel and employment records used to build the report. Private employers must keep them for one year from the date the record was created or the personnel action occurred, whichever is later. For an involuntarily terminated employee, records must be kept for one year from the termination date.9U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Recordkeeping Requirements
State and local governments and educational institutions face a two-year retention period.10U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Summary of Selected Recordkeeping Obligations in 29 CFR Part 1602 The covered records include hiring documents, promotion and demotion records, compensation data, layoff and termination records, and the race, ethnicity, sex, and job classification data feeding the EEO-1.
If You Don’t File
The EEOC can go to federal court and obtain an order compelling you to file. Section 709(c) authorizes a federal district court to issue a compliance order against any person who fails or refuses to comply with the reporting requirements.1GovInfo. 42 USC 2000e-8 The agency uses that authority. In one enforcement action, the EEOC sued 15 private employers at once for repeatedly failing to submit their required EEO-1 reports.11U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Sues 15 Employers for Failing to File Required Workforce Demographic Reports
Enforcement tends to focus on employers that have skipped multiple filing cycles rather than first-time delinquents. The exposure is not only civil, though. Because the certification statement invokes 18 U.S.C. § 1001, an employer that submits deliberately inaccurate data risks federal criminal liability for false statements on top of any court-ordered compliance.
Confidentiality of What You Submit
Section 709(e) of Title VII prohibits the EEOC from releasing individually identifiable information from EEO-1 submissions. When the agency publishes aggregate workforce statistics through its public data tools, it applies statistical disclosure limitations so no specific employer or employee can be identified from the released data.12U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO-1 Employer Information Report Statistics