EEOC Plans to Scrap 60-Year-Old Workplace Discrimination Data

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is moving to stop collecting data on the demographic makeup of companies — a database that has underpinned anti-discrimination enforcement for six decades.

Over the summer, the EEOC proposed terminating its EEO-1 reports, which require companies to submit employee data broken down by race, ethnicity, sex and job title. The majority-Republican commission is expected to approve the measure this fall.

Experts and former EEOC employees say the loss of this data will make it much harder to identify widespread discrimination in hiring and promotions, and warn it moves the agency further from an independent watchdog toward an arm of the executive branch.

"Getting rid of this data collection is part of a larger effort to weaponize civil rights enforcement and flip the laws that we have on their head," said Katie Sandson of the National Women's Law Center, which is suing the EEOC over enforcement of protections for transgender employees.

The EEO-1 is the only data collection of its kind, revealing trends such as the share of women in senior executive roles and the racial makeup of a company's lowest-paid staff. Since the EEOC's creation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the data has helped investigate thousands of complaints annually and recover billions of dollars for workers.

Since January 2025, the EEOC has rewritten its strategic priorities under the Trump administration, focusing more on discrimination claims from white men, dropping cases involving transgender workers, scrutinizing diversity practices, and rescinding anti-harassment guidance.

Andrea Lucas, the EEOC commissioner appointed by President Trump, testified in July that the demographic data collection is unconstitutional, burdensome and encourages discrimination against white workers. "I believe the Commission's proposed rescission of the annual reporting requirement will not hinder the Commission's law enforcement work," Lucas said. The EEOC did not respond to questions about its shifting priorities.

The EEOC receives nearly 90,000 discrimination complaints a year, and EEO-1 data is often the first tool investigators use to flag potential cases, especially as agency staffing sits at a 45-year low. Karla Gilbride, a former EEOC general counsel, said disparities in the data often signal "where there's smoke, there's fire."

The data has also supported major litigation, including an EEOC class-action against trucking company Central Transport, where female applicants across more than 25 locations alleged their applications were discarded or passed over in favor of less-qualified men.