Two thresholds decide who must file an EEO-1 report. Private-sector employers with 100 or more employees file every year. Federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors file if they have at least 50 employees and hold a contract worth $50,000 or more. The report goes to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and captures workforce demographics by job category, race or ethnicity, and sex under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO Data Collections
The Private-Employer Threshold
If your company employed 100 or more people during a pay period you select in the fourth quarter (October 1 through December 31) of the reporting year, you must file.2eCFR. 29 CFR 1602.7 – Requirement for Filing of Report That chosen pay period is called the workforce snapshot period. You pick it.
Both full-time and part-time employees on the payroll during that snapshot count toward the 100. Seasonal and temporary workers count if they are on your payroll during the period you choose. Independent contractors, freelancers, and business owners do not count, because they are not employees.3U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. How Do You Count the Number of Employees an Employer Has?
The Federal Contractor Threshold
Federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors face a lower bar. Two conditions must both be met: 50 or more employees, and a contract or subcontract worth $50,000 or more.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO Data Collections The same 50-employee rule reaches financial institutions that serve as depositories of government funds or handle U.S. savings bonds and notes. This obligation flows from Executive Order 11246, which sits alongside the Title VII authority that covers private employers.
Affiliated Companies and Combined Headcount
A small company can still be required to file. If your business is owned by or affiliated with another company and the combined headcount across all affiliated entities reaches 100, both entities have a filing obligation. A subsidiary with 40 employees whose parent employs another 70 crosses the threshold, and each files.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO Data Collections This catches employers who assume they are too small because they are looking only at their own payroll.
Leased and Staffing-Agency Workers
If a staffing agency or professional employer organization handles payroll, benefits, and compliance for workers placed at your site, that agency reports those workers on its own EEO-1. You do not.4Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO-1 Instruction Booklet Workers you directly employ still count toward your own threshold, regardless of where they physically work.
Multi-Establishment Employers
If your company operates at more than one physical location, a single report is not enough. You file several reports that together cover the whole organization:
- A consolidated report covering every employee across all locations.
- A separate headquarters report for your main office.
- An establishment-level report for each location with 50 or more employees. Smaller locations can be reported individually or grouped together in an establishment list.
The structure lets the EEOC review workforce composition at both the company level and the site level, since demographic patterns often diverge from one location to the next.
Mergers and Acquisitions
After an acquisition, the filing obligation depends on timing. If the deal closed before or during the fourth quarter of the reporting year, the acquiring company files EEO-1 data for both itself and the acquired business, and the combined workforce determines whether the threshold is met.5U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2023 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection Instruction Booklet
If the acquisition closed after the fourth quarter, the acquiring company still files on behalf of the acquired company when it has access to that company’s fourth-quarter workforce data. When the data isn’t available, the acquiring company should note the gap in the certification comments within the online filing system rather than skip the filing.5U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 2023 EEO-1 Component 1 Data Collection Instruction Booklet
Employers That Are Exempt
Some employers do not file an EEO-1 even when they exceed the employee threshold. The exempt categories are state and local governments, public school districts at the elementary and secondary level, institutions of higher education, and American Indian or Alaska Native tribes.1U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEO Data Collections
Exempt from the EEO-1 does not mean exempt from EEOC reporting. State and local governments with 100 or more employees file the EEO-4 report, and public school systems with 100 or more employees file the EEO-5 report, both on a biennial schedule.
What Happens If You Don’t File
There is no automatic fine for missing an EEO-1, which is one reason some employers treat filing as optional. It isn’t. Congress gave the EEOC authority to petition a federal district court for an order compelling compliance, and the agency uses it.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 2000e-8 – Investigations The EEOC has sued 15 employers across 10 states for repeatedly failing to file in prior reporting years.7U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC Sues 15 Employers for Failing to File Required Workforce Demographic Reports
Non-filing also creates exposure during unrelated investigations. If a discrimination charge is filed against an employer that has never submitted its required EEO-1 reports, the EEOC can issue a non-compliance finding even when the underlying charge is not substantiated, and that finding can trigger a conciliation process carrying additional reporting obligations. Filing a willfully false report carries federal criminal penalties of up to five years imprisonment.