Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Ends Requirement for Employers to Collect Demographic Data

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency responsible for enforcing civil rights and anti-discrimination laws, has ended a decades-old requirement for private sector employers to collect demographic data in the workplace, slashing a policy that had been in place for more than 60 years. The EEOC’s Republican majority voted 2-1 Tuesday to rescind the data collection requirement. EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas is a Trump ally and outspoken critic of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The EEOC was created under the 1964 Civil Rights Act establishing protections that prohibited discrimination based on race, gender, sex, national origin and religion. Kalpana Kotagal, who is the sole Democrat left on the EEOC since Trump overhauled the agency, said, “Today, the commission discusses whether to turn back time to a period before the civil rights movement, kneecapping its ability to protect workers.” www.democracynow.org