Back in July, we discussed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (“EEOC”) proposal to eliminate EEO-1 reporting requirements and the agency’s rationale for doing so. On August 11, the EEOC held a two-hour public hearing that brought together employers, academics, civil rights advocates, policy organizations, and a former EEOC General Counsel to weigh in on the proposal. While the testimony revealed sharp disagreements over the value of workforce demographic reporting, the arguments largely boiled down to a simple question: what happens when we stop counting?
At its core, the debate is about whether EEO-1 reporting requirements, which for decades have required many employers to submit workforce demographic data to the government, remain a vital tool for identifying workplace discrimination or whether it has become an unnecessary and potentially harmful regulatory burden.
Those opposing the proposal, including the Legal Defense Fund, the National Partnership for Women & Families, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the ACLU (represented by former EEOC General Counsel and current Deputy Director of the ACLU’s Disability Rights Program, Karla Gilbride), argued that EEO-1 data helps the EEOC detect systemic discrimination, prioritize limited enforcement resources, support investigations, and identify workplace trends that may not be apparent from individual complaints. Several speakers pointed to past EEOC enforcement...
White House border czar Tom Homan fired back on Sunday's "State of the Union" after Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., accused U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") of targeting parents at sch...