An EEO establishment code is the seven-character alphanumeric Unit ID that the EEOC’s Component 1 Online Filing System assigns to each physical work location covered by your EEO-1 report.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection Instruction Booklet Every office, store, or facility gets its own code, and once assigned, that code stays with the site year after year. You look it up (or, for a brand-new location, generate it) inside the portal at eeocdata.org/eeo1.
What the Code Is and Why It Sticks
The Unit ID is generated by the EEOC, not by you. You cannot edit it, reassign it, or pick your own. Once a location appears in the filing system, the code is locked to that site’s profile for the life of the establishment. A company’s principal office receives a headquarters Unit ID in the same seven-character format.
The reason it persists is data continuity. The code anchors every piece of demographic data your company submits about that location, so the EEOC can compare a single site’s workforce composition across years without confusing it with another branch nearby. When companies merge, acquire new locations, or rebrand, the establishment code is what keeps the historical record intact. Losing track of which code belongs to which site is one of the most common filing errors, and it is one of the hardest to correct after certification.
Finding Your Code in the Filing Portal
Establishment codes live inside the EEO-1 Component 1 Online Filing System at eeocdata.org/eeo1.2U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO-1 Component 1 Sample Report Log in with your company credentials and open the list of establishments tied to your company profile. You can search by street address or site name to pull up a specific location, and filters let you narrow by status or region.
Click into an individual establishment and the seven-character Unit ID appears in the summary details.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection Instruction Booklet To review every code at once, use the export feature to download a file listing all active establishments along with their Unit IDs. That export is the fastest way to audit your full roster before you certify.
If you’re filing for the first time, no codes exist yet. The system creates them as you add establishment records.
Adding a New Location or Closing an Old One
When your company opens a new site, add it through the portal’s Add Establishment function. Enter the site name, physical address, and NAICS code, and the system generates a fresh seven-character code. The new location then appears on your roster and needs demographic data before you can certify.
When a location shuts down, mark it as inactive or closed inside the establishment list. That removes it from your current reporting obligations so the closed site’s headcount doesn’t inflate your aggregate totals. The system requires a confirmation step before locking in the change, and a notification follows once the update takes effect. Don’t skip this for closed sites. If the EEOC’s records show an active establishment your filing ignores, the discrepancy can prompt an inquiry during audit.
How the Code Ties to Each Report Type
Which reports use establishment codes depends on how many locations you operate.
- Type 1 covers single-establishment employers. You still receive an establishment code, but there is only one to track.
- Type 2 is the consolidated report for multi-establishment companies. It combines the headquarters report, all individual establishment reports, and any smaller-site list into one total.
- Type 3 covers the headquarters or principal office of a multi-establishment company. It carries its own headquarters Unit ID.
- Type 4 is required for every individual location employing 50 or more people, and each Type 4 report is tied to that site’s unique establishment code.
- Type 6 is a simplified list for locations with fewer than 50 employees. Instead of a full report per small site, you list them all on one document showing name, address, and employee count. The demographic data for those employees rolls into the Type 2 consolidated report.
The most common breaking point in multi-establishment filing is a headcount mismatch. If the totals on your Type 4 reports and Type 6 list don’t add up to the Type 2 consolidated figure, the system won’t let you certify.
Information to Have Ready Before You Log In
Gathering the right data before opening the portal saves real time, because sessions time out and the code list may need cross-checking against your own records.
- Employer Identification Number (EIN): the nine-digit IRS number that links your filing to your company’s tax identity.3Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
- NAICS code: a six-digit code describing the primary business activity at each location. Different locations within the same company can carry different NAICS codes if they perform different work.4United States Census Bureau. Economic Census – NAICS Codes and Understanding Industry Classification Systems
- Physical address: exact street address, suite number, and ZIP code for each establishment. The system matches locations by address, and inconsistencies between years cause duplicate records.
- Prior-year Unit IDs: cross-reference the establishment codes from previous submissions. The system retains them, but verifying the match prevents accidentally creating a new record for a site that already has one.
Legal, accounting, or HR typically has these details on file from prior tax filings and corporate registrations. Compiling them into a single spreadsheet before you log in is the simplest way to avoid re-work.
Filing Deadlines
The regulation at 29 CFR 1602.7 sets a default annual deadline of September 30, but in practice the EEOC opens and closes its own collection window each year and announces specific dates.5eCFR. 29 CFR 1602.7 – Employer Information Report For the 2024 data collection, the portal opened on May 20, 2025, and submissions were due by June 24, 2025. The EEOC had not announced 2025 reporting-year dates as of this writing. Check the EEOC’s EEO Data Collections page for updates; the window has historically been short.
What Happens If You Don’t File
The EEOC does not levy fines directly for late or missing EEO-1 reports. Under 29 CFR 1602.9, if an employer fails or refuses to file, the EEOC can apply to a U.S. District Court for an order compelling compliance, and ignoring that order opens the door to contempt proceedings. Filing a report with intentionally false information is a separate federal crime under 18 U.S.C. 1001, carrying potential fines and imprisonment.6eCFR. 29 CFR Part 1602 Subpart B – Employer Information Report
Employers must also keep a copy of the most recent EEO-1 filing at each reporting unit or at company headquarters and produce it on request by an EEOC officer.5eCFR. 29 CFR 1602.7 – Employer Information Report Beyond the legal exposure, missing or inconsistent EEO-1 data removes one of the strongest tools an employer has during a discrimination charge investigation: a clean record of workforce composition across every one of its establishments.