Posted September 22nd, 2026 in Top Stories, Legal Insights with Tags Pay equity
As Federal EEO-1 Reporting Withers Away, Employers Must Stay Alert to State and Local Requirements Springing Up To Fill The Gap
In the June 2026 edition of NJL’s Pay Equity Advisor, we discussed the EEOC’s plan to end EEO-1 data collection and reporting requirements. We also observed that a growing number of states were creating their own workforce data collection and reporting regimes just as the federal requirements were being pulled back.
In this edition, we provide additional detail about the evolving patchwork of state pay data reporting laws, call out important deadlines, and alert you to changes coming in 2027 and beyond.
California. Private employers with 100 or more employees (nationwide) and at least one employee who works in California must submit annual reports with pay, race, sex, job category, employment type, total hours worked, median and mean hourly pay rates, and pay band information. California imposes parallel reporting obligations regarding contract workers that a covered employer engages in the state. Both reports are due the second Wednesday in May.
Colorado. Private employers with 100 or more employees (nationwide) that were required to file EEO-1 reports as of March 1, 2026, and that conduct business in Colorado, must file a workforce data report using the EEO-1 form that existed as of that date. Reports are included with other periodic submission requirements for Colorado businesses.
Illinois. Within three years of starting business operations in Illinois, private employers with 100 or more employees in the state, including remote employees, must apply for an Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC). With their application, they must report information about their employees’ pay, race, sex, job category, hours worked, job title, and county of employment. Employers must submit updated reports every two years after the certificate’s issuance. In addition, Illinois employers that are subject to federal EEO-1 reporting requirements must submit a workforce demographic data report, substantially similar to an EEO-1 report, along with their annual business submissions.
Massachusetts. Employers with at least 100 employees in Massachusetts that are subject to EEO-1 reporting obligations must submit their EEO-1 report (and, if applicable, other federal EEO reports) to the state by February 1 each year. The law expressly provides that employers must continue reporting this information even if the federal EEO-1 reporting requirements are revoked.
Looking Ahead to 2027 and Beyond
California Updates. Beginning in 2027, California employees will need to be grouped by “standard occupational category,” rather than by EEO-1 occupational reporting categories. While the reports are not due until May 2027, employers should start preparing now, as this change in categorization scheme may require significant workforce evaluation.
New NYC Law. Under a new law, employers with at least 200 employees will be required to submit annual pay data reports for their New York City employees, including demographic and occupational information. The city has a multi-year, staged implementation plan. At the latest, the reporting obligation would become effective in December 2028, but it could happen sooner, depending on how quickly the mayor designates a responsible agency and that agency develops a standardized data collection form.
Although reporting will be phased in over several years, employers should begin planning now to confirm they are prepared to collect and report the required information, as the law imposes some new (but familiar) requirements. Unlike most of the state laws described above, which require submission of EEO-1 “component one” reports, New York City will require submissions corresponding with EEO-1 “component two” reports, which were briefly required for private employers for the 2017 and 2018 reporting years. That means the reports must include W-2 wage information and total hours worked, categorized by race/ethnicity, gender, and job category. The to-be-named agency is also authorized to modify the component two requirements, including by adding reporting options that account for different gender identities.