The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is positioned for another rescission mission. Recall that recently, the EEOC rescinded the 2024 Enforcement Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace and two affirmative action documents. The commission’s apparent next mission relates to the EEO-1 report and a number of related reports, which include the EEO-2, EEO-3, EEO-4, EEO-5, and EEO-6 reports. These reports require employers — usually private employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees and contracts of a certain dollar amount — to annually collect and report data related to their employees’ sex and race. Per the EEOC, over 110,000 employers are currently filing over two million EEO-1 reports each year. That may change soon.
On July 21, 2026, the EEOC voted 2-1 (Chair Andrea Lucas and Commissioner Brittany Panuccio in favor, Commissioner Kalpana Kotagal dissenting) to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that rescinds the requirement for many employers to file EEO reports and to clean up some of the regulations contained in Title 29, part 1602, which provides recordkeeping obligations pursuant to anti-discrimination laws. The EEOC preliminarily determined that the 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 notice further claimed the data collection “may encourage employers to discriminate against employees who are not considered ‘minorities,’ may promote racial stereotyping, and may encourage employers to engage in discrimination to avoid potential EEOC enforcement actions or to address perceived inequitable outcomes.” The commission also emphasized that the burden imposed on employers and the commission outweighed any value of the report.
What does it mean for employers?
Nothing yet. A hearing will be held on August 11, 2026, and the public may submit comments until late August. After the deadline to submit comments, the commission will consider any comments and issue a final rule.
If the rescission takes effect, some employers will have one less report to file, but employers in certain states must continue tracking demographic information due to state law. For example, Colorado recently implemented a law that requires reporting information contained in the EEO reports to continue even if the federal government stops requiring such reporting. Employers operating in states without reporting requirements may want to voluntarily collect the information through periodic audits conducted alongside legal counsel (to ensure privilege) to evaluate policies and potential discriminatory discrepancies. Moreover, while the EEOC’s notice states that it “is also proposing to rescind the recordkeeping and record preservation requirements associated with the EEO Reports,” the EEOC makes clear it will continue to retain the authority to request information during investigations. The proposed rescission is limited to the recordkeeping and record preservation requirements tied specifically to the EEO reports; the EEOC’s general recordkeeping and record preservation requirements applicable to personnel and employment records generally (that are not tied to the EEO reports) would remain in place.
As of now, employers should continue to collect data and act as though the deadline to file EEO-1 reports this year will be due as usual, although the EEOC has not announced the due date or opened the portal.
We will keep monitoring this situation, but you should be thoughtful about all data collection and how the information is used. As a reminder, neither race, sex, nor any other protected characteristic should be used to make employment decisions.