The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is weighing ways in which it can collect data about nonbinary workers consistent with federal law.
A spokesperson for the EEOC confirmed to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday that it is exploring ways in which it can do so, although the agency has not yet been authorized to mandate the collection of nonbinary worker statistics under the Paperwork Reduction Act.
“Advancing full equality for LGBTQI+ employees at work is a key priority for the EEOC,” the spokesperson said.
Nonbinary is a phrase used to describe individuals who don’t identify as either a male or a female, and its use has been growing in popularity over the past few years, likely a major factor in the civil rights agency becoming interested in tracking the data.
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Changes to what information is collected on the EEO-1 form would require a full vote by the EEOC and the approval of an information collection request by the Office of Management and Budget, according to the spokesperson.
An EEO-1 form is required to be submitted by all private sector employers with 100 or more employees and federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting certain criteria. The information includes demographic workforce data, including data about race and ethnicity, sex, and job categories, according to the agency.
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EEOC spokeswoman Christine Nazer told Bloomberg that employers can already voluntarily submit data on nonbinary workers to the agency in the “comment” section of their EEO-1 forms.
