The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) this week published revised proposed regulations for collecting pay data through the Employer Information Report (EEO-1). The revised proposal incorporates more than 300 public comments received on the initial proposed regulations published on February 1, 2016.

The initial proposed regulations required federal contractors and employers with 100 or more employees to annually submit summary data, reported by pay ranges and hours worked, to allow the EEOC to identify pay discrimination issues and promote equal pay. The revised proposal extends the reporting deadline for the 2017 report and later to March 31 of the year following the EEO-1 report year. This change affords employers six additional months to prepare their recordkeeping procedures for the 2017 report and 18 months to file their EEO-1 report. In addition, this new deadline affords employers the ability to use W-2 pay information calculated for the previous year for their EEO-1 report. The September 30, 2016, deadline for the 2016 EEO-1 remains unchanged.

In addition to the potential burden on employers to gather this data, the proposed regulations pose a concern because the EEOC receives wage information for the purpose of bringing enforcement actions against employers, without any context to explain potential pay disparities. To prepare for the potential increase in litigation, employers should take this opportunity to review their pay practices to determine if there are pay disparities to be addressed.

The public comment period for the revised regulations will run through August 31, 2016.