California Employers With 100 Or More Employees: The March 31, 2021 Deadline For Required Pay Data Reporting Is Around the Corner

In our article “Key Changes to California Employment laws For 2021,” we reported that, as a result of SB 973, California employers who (1) have 100 or more employees (including those located outside California) and (2) are required to file an annual EEO-1 report under federal law must submit an annual pay data report to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). Reports must be filed on March 31 of each year beginning March 31, 2021.

Now set forth in Government Code section 12999, these large employers must submit a “Pay Data Report” containing specified information as to employees who are assigned to California establishments and/or working in California. The required information for this reporting period is to be based on a Snapshot Period, which is a single pay period between October 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020.

Employers must report, for each establishment, the number of employees (including those on paid or unpaid leave) by race, ethnicity, and sex during the Snapshot Period in each of the ten EEO-1 job categories; the number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex, whose annual earnings fall within each of the pay bands used by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Occupational Employment Statistics survey; and the total number of hours worked by each employee plus the hours the employee was on any form of employer-paid time off (such as vacation time, sick time, or holiday time).

The Pay Data Report must be submitted through the DFEH Pay Data Reporting Portal. The DFEH advises that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will consider an employer’s request for a deferral which would extend the time to file the report until April 30, 2021. Employers must submit an Enforcement Deferral Request form on the DFEH Portal before March 31, 2021, to seek the extension. The DFEH is empowered to seek an order compelling employee compliance with the Pay Data Reporting requirements and is entitled to recover its costs in seeking a compliance order.

Access to the Portal, and a User Guide, Template, and Example Report, Enforcement Deferral Request and Frequently Asked Questions, are available at the DFEH Pay Data Reporting page.

If you have questions or concerns about the new Pay Data Reporting requirements, please contact the Rogers Joseph O’Donnell attorney with whom you regularly work or a member of our employment law team at employmentlaw@rjo.com. We are here to help.