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New Racial and Ethnic Groups and Descriptions

The revised EEO-1 Report separates the “Asian and Pacific Islander” group into two new racial groups, “Asian” and “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.” In addition, there is a new “Person of Two or More Races” category, reflecting the addition of this classification to the data collected with the 2000 Census. As in the past, only employees who are not Hispanic will be counted toward a racial category. Separately, the “Hispanic” classification has been renamed “Hispanic or Latino” and the “Black” classification has been renamed “Black or African American.”

New Job Categories

The revised EEO-1 Report subdivides the “Officials and Managers” category into two new categories: “Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers” and “First/Mid-Level Managers.” The “Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers” category includes those employees who plan, direct and formulate policy, set strategy, and provide the overall direction of enterprises/organizations. In larger organizations, the category includes employees within two reporting levels of the CEO and whose responsibilities require frequent interaction with the CEO. The “First/Mid-Level Managers” category includes those employees who direct implementation or operations within the specific parameters established by Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers and those employees who oversee implementation of day-to-day goals. According to the EEOC, the previous “Officials and Managers” category was subdivided to avoid the conflation of data about jobs of widely discrepant responsibility, compensation, and skill, and avoids the risk of obscuring important trends in the employment of women and minorities. This rationale is consistent with the EEOC’s continued interest in “glass ceiling” issues.

In addition, under the new rules for the revised EEO-1 Report, individual in business and financial occupations should now be assigned to the Professional job category. Previously, these positions were counted in the Officials and Managers job category. Finally, the “Office and Clerical” category was renamed “Administrative Support Workers,” the “Craft Workers (Skilled)” category was renamed “Craft Workers,” the “Operatives (Semi-Skilled)” category was renamed “Operatives,” and the “Laborers (Unskilled)” category was renamed “Laborers and Helpers.”

Visual Identification Now Disfavored

In the past, employers usually determined ethnicity and race for the EEO-1 Report by visual observation. Beginning with the 2007 EEO-1 Report, employers may use employment records or visual observation to gather data only when employees refuse to self-identify. The EEOC maintains that self-identification is central to the government’s goal of understanding the increasing complexity of race in America. The EEOC declined, however, to adopt its proposed “Suggested Employee Questionnaire on Race and Ethnicity.” Instead, the EEOC refers employers to two basic principles for ethnic and racial self-identification for purposes of the EEO-1 Report:

1. Offer employees the opportunity to self-identify;

2. Provide a statement about the voluntary nature of the inquiry.

The EEOC may issue guidelines regarding the new EEO-1 Report, and these guidelines may address methods which can be used to identify employees. The OFCCP is developing a regulatory proposal addressing how the new ethnic and racial categories will be incorporated into Affirmative Action Programs for women and minorities. Resources available at www.eeoc.gov/eeo1/ include the revised EEO-1 Report, the new Instruction Booklet, the Job Classification Guide for the EEO-1 Survey Report beginning in 2007, as well as Questions and Answers.

Questions

The foregoing is not intended as legal advice. If you have specific questions regarding the EEO-1 Report or affirmative action obligations for federal contractors and subcontractors, please contact one of our attorneys.