EEOC proposes major changes to guidance

On July 3, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) submitted 10 regulatory changes to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), both proposed and in final-rule stage. The major regulatory changes include proposing to rescind the EEO reports and reporting requirements, rescinding the Uniform Guidelines for Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), and revising the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) regulations. The current agenda focuses heavily on rolling back long-standing agency positions to reduce paperwork burdens and limit expansive interpretations of antidiscrimination statutes. 

EEO reports and UGESP 

The proposed changes of most interest to employers are the proposals to eliminate data collection and reporting obligations by rescinding the EEO reports and the UGESP. The EEOC in its statement of regulatory and deregulatory priorities says: 

These EEO data collections were not mandated by statute; they were an agency-created requirement, which imposed a significant financial and administrative burden on the EEOC with limited practical utility for enforcing antidiscrimination laws. It additionally imposed unjustified costs on America’s employers.