On September 30, 2020, the California legislature passed SB 973, California’s pay equity data law. The law, codified under Government Code section 12999, requires certain employers with California employees to file an annual Employer Information Report that includes employee data on pay, hours, and demographics (“pay data”). Pay data is due to the DFEH (California Department of Fair Employment and Housing) on March 31, 2021.
Who Must Report?
All private employers with “100 or more U.S. employees and who [are] required to file an annual Employer Information Report (EEO-1) pursuant to federal law,” and at least one California employee must file an annual Employer Information Report.
An employer has the requisite number of employees if the employer either employed 100 or more employees in the Snapshot Period chosen by the employer or regularly employed 100 or more employees during the Reporting Year. The Snapshot Period is a single pay period between October 1 and December 31 of the Reporting Year, which is “the prior calendar year.” For this year, then, the Reporting Year is January to December 2020, while the Snapshot Period is any pay period between October 1 and December 31, 2020.
What Must Employers Report?
Employers must report data similar to what was required in the federal EEO-1, Component 2 form. The EEOC has since discontinued the use of the Component 2 form, but is studying the data it has collected from employers so far. In enacting SB 973, the California legislature has decided to pick up where the EEOC left off.
DFEH has now provided a data report template for both Excel and CSV files here.
As seen in the template reports, employers must provide the following data:
- For each establishment, during the Snapshot Period, the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex in ten different job categories.
- The number of employees—by race, ethnicity, and sex—whose annual earnings fall within each of twelve pay bands ranging from $19,239 and under to $208,000 and over.
- The total number of hours each employee worked during the entire Reporting Year, plus any paid time off hours.
- The Reporting Year and the Snapshot Period the employer selected.
- Additional employer information, including contact information, NAICS codes, total number of employees, and total number of establishments.
- Any clarifying remarks.
- A certification that the information contained in the pay data report is accurate and prepared in accordance with the law.
Employers must submit their pay data reports to DFEH’s pay data submission portal here. DFEH has also provided answers to common questions here.
