For Immediate Release – August 31, 2026
Illinois Joins States to Urge EEOC to Preserve Workforce Demographic Reporting
Eight civil rights agencies warn eliminating longstanding EEO data collection could weaken enforcement, reduce transparency, and create new burdens for employers
CHICAGO —The Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) joined civil rights enforcement agencies including the District of Columbia’s civil rights enforcement agency to provide a joint comment urging the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to preserve longstanding federal workforce demographic reporting requirements that help agencies identify and address employment discrimination.
In joint comments submitted August 24, 2026, in response to EEOC Docket No. EEOC-2026-0034, the agencies opposed the proposed rescission of Equal Employment Opportunity workforce demographic reporting requirements, including the EEO-1 report.
For six decades, EEO workforce data has provided federal, state, and local civil rights agencies, employers, policymakers, and the public with information about patterns of representation across industries, regions, and occupations. The data does not identify individual employees, but can help reveal broader disparities and inform enforcement, education, outreach, and policy decisions.
“Every worker deserves a fair opportunity to succeed, and effective enforcement requires the tools to protect that opportunity,” said Illinois Department of Human Rights Director James Bennett. “As federal efforts continue to chip away at civil rights protections, Illinois is proud to stand with our state and federal partners in a unified effort to defend equal opportunity and protect the American people and employers we serve.”
The agencies argue that ending the collection would reduce transparency and eliminate an important baseline for assessing whether workforce disparities reflect broader labor-market conditions or potential discrimination. They also reject the premise that collecting demographic information encourages discrimination, noting that identifying disparities does not create them.
“Modernization and efficiency are worthwhile goals, but they should strengthen civil rights enforcement and not leave agencies, employers, and workers with less information,” said IDHR Senior Policy Advisor Jason Rosensweig. “Illinois is proud to stand with our partners across the country in protecting the successful tools that help make equal employment opportunity meaningful.”
Rescinding the federal requirement could shift rather than eliminate costs. State and local civil rights agencies would still need workforce information to investigate discrimination complaints, potentially requiring employers to produce it individually. Without centralized federal collection, employers operating across multiple jurisdictions could face a patchwork of separate state and local requirements.
The comments were jointly submitted by civil rights agencies representing Oregon, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia. The agencies urged the EEOC to modernize the reporting system where appropriate rather than eliminate it.
“We should never confuse the absence of data with the absence of discrimination,” said Cleveland L. Horton II, Executive Director Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. “If we choose not to measure inequity, inequity does not disappear—it simply becomes easier to deny. Civil rights enforcement requires us to be willing to see what is uncomfortable, confront what is unequal, and act when the evidence demands it. Progress has never been achieved by looking away.”
“Eliminating Equal Employment Opportunity reporting represents yet another significant step in dismantling our nation’s civil rights enforcement framework,” said Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero. “Everyone has a right to a discrimination-free workplace, and ending workforce data collection will make it harder to root out discrimination where it persists. The Minnesota Department of Human Rights proudly joins other states in rejecting changes that erode essential civil rights protections.”
New York State Division of Human Rights Commissioner Denise M. Miranda said, “For decades, the New York State Division of Human Rights has fought to protect the rights of every New Yorker. Data collection is a vital tool in this effort, helping enforcement agencies uncover systemic patterns of discrimination that can hide in plain sight. Ending longstanding data collection efforts will not make our workplaces more equal—it will only make discrimination harder to root out.”
”Oregon stands with every worker who risks being made invisible by this change,” said Oregon Labor Commissioner Christina Stephenson. “When the federal government removes the data that reveals disparities, that doesn’t mean the disparities disappear; it means the people most harmed by discrimination are easier to ignore. We will not allow those workers to be pushed into the shadows.”
”Taking away national demographic reporting will make it significantly harder for agencies and employers to see where inequities persist,” said Oregon Civil Rights Division Administrator Michael Wood. “Without this data, we lose one of the most practical tools we have to identify problems early, focus resources effectively, and prevent small issues from becoming systemic barriers.”
“In the District, protecting equal opportunity means having the information we need to understand where barriers exist and address them,” said Washington D.C. Office of Human Rights Interim Director Elizabeth Fox-Solomon. “Preserving EEO-1 data helps us support compliance, strengthen enforcement, and make sure discrimination and disparities do not go unseen in the communities we serve.”
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