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The Trump administration took a step Tuesday toward scrapping a 60-year-old rule that requires companies to report employee demographic data that civil rights lawyers say is critical to enforcing anti-discrimination laws.
Why it matters: It's part of an administration effort to overhaul decades of traditional civil rights enforcement — and a broader push against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts inside corporate America.
The big picture: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) collects summary data on workers' race, sex and ethnicity from employers, and releases aggregate information to the public.
- Companies use it to understand their workforce, and other groups tap the data to track overall trends — like how many women hold executive roles.
- It can also be critical in bringing or defending discrimination lawsuits.
Zoom in: The EEOC, the agency tasked with enforcing Title VII of the federal civil rights law, said Tuesday that the data collection is not actually required under that law.
- Its statement suggests that collecting such data is itself discriminatory, saying that "EEO data reports are inconsistent with equal employment opportunity law, may raise constitutional concerns, and collect data that is not narrowly tailored or necessary to enforce anti-discrimination statutes."
- The EEOC said more than two million employers must file these reports annually at a cost of $275 million, which works out to about $135 per employer.
- The agency spends almost $4 million to administer the data collection, it said.
Where it stands: The rescission hasn't taken effect yet. On Tuesday, the commission voted 2-1, with the one Democrat commissioner in dissent, to move forward in publishing a proposed rule and opening it up to public comment.
- The EEOC first submitted its plan to "rescind" the reporting requirement, which covers companies with 100 or more employees in May.
The other side: Civil rights advocates, employment lawyers and other advocates for workers say this data is a key tool in both bringing and defending workplace discrimination cases — and in fostering the public's understanding of the make-up of the workforce.
- "For decades, workforce data has helped organizations identify systemic barriers that can stall the advancement of women, particularly women from historically underrepresented groups," said Laurie Henneborn, vice president of research, insights and solutions at Catalyst, a group that advocates for women and tracks data on women in corporate America.
Between the lines: Employers should continue collecting this information as rule-making continues, Jennifer Robins, counsel in Saul Ewing's Labor and Employment Group, tells Axios.
- Some states have separate reporting requirements.
- Plus, for employers this kind of data typically comes up in discrimination lawsuits and would be expensive to collect after the fact, she adds.
What they're saying: "It's a major rollback," Andrew Jones, principal researcher at The Conference Board, tells Axios.
- Businesses are still likely to track this data internally, he says, but this will hit at a "macro level where we will see less transparency and less comparable disclosure from firms."
- Civil rights advocates have widely criticized the move: "If you cannot measure problems, you cannot address them," Deborah J. Vagins, senior vice president for advocacy and programs at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said in a statement.
