A Republican-led EEOC proposal to eliminate workforce diversity reporting heads to public comment amid harsh criticism.
Published July 21, 2026
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the main regulatory agency that enforces anti-discrimination laws in the United States, has proposed eliminating a decades-old requirement for U.S. employers to annually submit data on the racial and gender breakdown of their employees.
In a 2-1 vote, the Republican majority advanced the proposal, which will now move into a 30-day public comment period before final approval. The commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing on the measure on August 11th.
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This report, known as EEO-1, collects aggregate demographic data rather than specific identification of workers. They are designed to help the federal government understand employment patterns and trends and identify patterns of systemic discrimination.
For the past 60 years, the EEOC has required businesses with 100 or more employees or federal contractors with 50 or more employees to submit this data. It is currently collected by 73,000 different employers covering 50 million workers.
The agency pointed to the cost this requirement imposes on employers, estimating it would cost the EEOC nearly $275 million for a program that costs $4 million, and argued that the requirement is no longer necessary.
They also argued that the law is inconsistent with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employers from discriminating against workers or job applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, even though it has been the law for more than half a century.
“They (requirements) are in direct tension with Title VII’s requirement that employment practices be colorblind. Collecting such data without specific allegations not only risks hindering effective enforcement, but also raises constitutional concerns,” EEOC Chairman Andrea Lucas said in prepared remarks shared on LinkedIn.
Ending the enforcement measures was recommended in Project 2025, a list of U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy wishes from the Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank. Despite denying any connection to Project 2025 during his campaign, President Trump quickly appointed the authors to key positions across the government, including Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr.
Critics have pushed back against Lucas’ argument that the requirement would hinder enforcement.
“This administration seeks to justify its efforts to roll back employment-related data collection and analysis by arguing that these activities induce employers to engage in quotas and race-based hiring,” a coalition of former EEOC executives said in an open letter in May, when the rule was first proposed. “However, this is simply inaccurate and unsubstantiated speculation, and is inconsistent with how this data is actually collected, managed, and used.”
