The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs is providing notice of disclosure of federal contractors’ EEO-1 data in response to a Freedom of Information Act request
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs' (OFCCP) August 19, 2022, Federal Register notice explained that the Center for Investigative Reporting made a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for OFCCP to disclose Type 2 EEO-1 Report data for filing years 2016-2020 and provided a deadline of September 19, 2022, for federal contractors to submit written objections to disclosure. 87 FR 51145. The EEO-1 Report is administered by the EEO-1 Joint Reporting Committee (JRC), which is composed of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and OFCCP. The EEOC and OFCCP jointly collect EEO-1 data through the JRC, as a practical matter, because the JRC is housed at the EEOC, employers submit their data to the EEOC. Multi-establishment employers submit a Type 2 Consolidated Report, which includes demographic data for all employees of the company. OFCCP subsequently issued a notice via the Federal Register extending the deadline to October 19, 2022. Additionally, OFCCP emailed a notice to contractors for which OFCCP had contact information from the EEO-1 reports or OFCCP’s Contractor Portal.
The objection period is now closed, and we are sending this message to confirm we have not received an objection from your organization regarding release of the requested data. Because we have received no objection, we are providing your organization with notice that its Type 2 EEO-1 data is subject to release under FOIA, and OFCCP intends to release this data after January 2, 2023.
If you believe this determination is in error — for instance, if you believe you were not a federal contractor during the relevant period, or that you did submit a timely objection — please contact our offices as soon as possible, but no later than January 2, 2023, via the contact information below. If you contact us by email, please provide in the email your organization’s unit number and any information supporting your belief that your Type 2 EEO-1 data is not subject to release. Please note that the number printed on the “Company Name and Address” sheet, or the EEO-1 form as CO=XXXXXXX is the unique identification number assigned to your company. The number indicated in a company’s database located in the EEO-1 Online Filing System or printed on an EEO-1 form as U=XXXXXXX is the unique identification number or “Unit Number” for a company establishment. The Unit Number never changes for an establishment. Company Number and Unit Number are used together to identify an establishment within a company.
If you object to release for any other reason, you may provide the basis for your objection, as well as any explanation as to why an objection was not submitted within the 60-day timeframe that ended on October 19, 2022, that OFCCP provided. If OFCCP determines that there is good cause for why your organization’s objection was not filed during the original 60-day objection period, OFCCP may, at its discretion, consider the substance of the late-filed objection.
If you are not the appropriate contact for this notice, please forward this message to the appropriate department within your organization.
Background
In 2019, OFCCP received a FOIA request for Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 Report data submitted by federal contractors and first-tier subcontractors. In June 2022, the FOIA request was amended to include all such data submitted by contractors and first-tier subcontractors from 2016 until 2020. Consistent with the U.S. Department of Labor’s disclosure regulations at 29 CFR 70.26(j), OFCCP provided notice to contractors covered by this FOIA request through a published Notice in the Federal Register, an e-mail to all federal contractors for whom OFCCP has contact information, through OFCCP’s GovDelivery listserv, and a posting on its website.
The Federal Register Notice provided specific instructions and a list of questions that were to be addressed by those contractors who wished to object to the disclosure of their Type 2 Consolidated EEO-1 Report data. To facilitate contractors’ written objections and the agency’s assessment of them, we created the Submitter Notice Response Portal, to collect relevant information from contractors and their representatives that wished to object to the release of the requested data. Additional guidance regarding the FOIA request was also available on this page. OFCCP is evaluating the responses collected from this web form to determine whether the requested information includes confidential trade secret, commercial, or financial information that should be withheld pursuant to FOIA Exemption 4.
Contact the OFCCP National FOIA Office
You may contact the OFCCP FOIA Help Desk by phone or email with any questions related to this message. Please note that our business hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.
You may contact us at the information below.
National FOIA Office
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
U.S. Department of Labor
Helpdesk Number: 1-800-397-6251
Email: OFCCP-FOIA-EEO1-Questions@dol.gov
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