Here is more information to help you comply with recent changes in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC's) EEO-1 Report. The new form will be used for the first time in organizations' September 2007 filings.

Who is affected? Many employers have been required to file the old EEO-1, which was known as the Employer Information Report. Who are they? They employ at least 100 people, and/or they have certain contracts to provide goods or services to the federal government. That is, they are prime contractors, first-tier subcontractors, or have a purchase order for at least $50,000. Finally, there's a third category of affected employers--financial institutions that serve as a depository for government funds or that issue or pay U.S. Savings Bonds and Notes. These categories, which will need to file the new EEO-1, have not changed. And, as before, certain employers are exempt: state and local governments; primary, secondary, and higher education institutions; Indian tribes; and tax-exempt membership clubs that are not labor organizations. (But those exempt employers may need to file other EEO reports.)

EEOC has strong preferences. The EEOC prefers that covered employers file their reports online to a specific address (www.eeoc.gov/eeo1survey/index.html) or to transmit an electronic data file. Another strong EEOC preference is for employees to identify themselves as belonging to one of the new racial and ethnic categories in the report--as opposed to being identified by the employer based on their appearance.

To review the new categories, the biggest change is separate identification of people of Hispanic or Latino origins. If an individual identifies that way, he or she cannot choose any of six other categories, all of which are followed by the caveat "not Hispanic or Latino." Those categories are White, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. Notice that employer data filed in September 2006 will not match, because the two-or-more-races slot is new, as is the split between Asian and Pacific Islander, which was previously one category.

Another change is very significant: EEOC's highest job category was Officials and Managers but is now split into officials and managers who are either Executive/Senior Level or First/Mid-Level. Employers will place workers in either of those or eight other job categories according to the organization's hierarchy, not employee self-identification.

2007 filing may be tricky. The new report must do double duty, submitted both to EEOC and, for contractors, to the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs (OFCCP). But OFCCP has not officially adopted the new form and will probably not have time to change its categories before the upcoming September filing.

So you're getting ready for the new EEO-1 reporting process. EEOC requires that employees be categorized in its new way according to race/ethnicity and job level, while OFCCP still adheres to the older categories. If you're a federal contractor, how do you handle the dual reporting process?

The answer is that you should file two reports, one using the new EEO-1 form for EEOC and the other with the old EEO-1 form for OFCCP. (Note that this may only be true for a year or two, because the new form was developed jointly by both agencies, and OFCCP will move to change its rules to make reporting uniform.) And, if you're a prime contractor that hires a new subcontractor, it's your job to inform that firm, in writing, of its EEO reporting obligations.

Let's focus now on employee self-identification. All employees should be given a two-question form. The first question is, "Are you Hispanic or Latino?" Only if the answer is "no" should employees then respond to the second question by choosing one of the six other categories. Further, employees must be told that self-identification is completely voluntary. But what if an employee refuses to self-identify? HR must then do its best to identify him or her based on appearance. However, if an employee chooses an identity that the employer finds to be at odds with the person's appearance, it's important to go with what the employee says.

Note that, to meet OFCCP requirements, employees must identify themselves in two different formats, one for EEOC and the other, older way for OFCCP. Employers with both kinds of reporting obligations will need to explain to staff members why and how to use the two different methods: EEOC gathers data to protect workers' civil rights by identifying employment patterns that may penalize women or minorities, while OFCCP uses the data to target those employers it will choose for affirmative action compliance audits.

Here's a third wrinkle: On one hand, covered employers must use the new EEO-1 for September 2007 filings, but no resurvey of employees needs to be done until you prepare to file in September 2008. Seems contradictory, no? EEOC encourages you to ask employees to update their personal information, using the new race/ethnicity categories, if processes are in place to do so. But if they aren't, boxes for the new categories may be left blank on the 2007 submission. Since you must categorize your workforce according to job responsibilities, however, we advise you to start working now with your IT staff to update HR records according to EEOC reporting needs.