110+ House & Senate Democrats Slam EEOC's Proposal to End Demographic Data Collection Key to Fighting Workplace Discrimination

110+ House & Senate Democrats Slam EEOC's Proposal to End Demographic Data Collection Key to Fighting Workplace Discrimination

WASHINGTON - Today, Democratic Women's Caucus Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (DE-D), Congressional Black Caucus Chair Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus Chair Grace Meng (NY-06), Congressional Equality Caucus Chair Mark Takano (CA-39) and Representative Jerrold Nadler (NY-12) led 112 Members of Congress & Senators in a letter urging the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to reverse its proposed rule that would end the Equal Employment Opportunity reporting requirements to collect demographic data.

Established in 1964, the EEOC was commissioned with bipartisan support to serve as an independent, multi-member body tasked with preventing and addressing employment discrimination. Despite workers coming to rely on the EEOC as a fair and independent regulatory body, the commission's proposal claims the data reports are inconsistent with equal employment opportunity law, and may raise constitutional concerns.

The EEOC's proposal would directly undermine its regulatory power. The proposal would undermine the Commission's ability to enforce Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that makes it illegal for employers to discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and would delay justice for workers across America who are facing unlawful discrimination.

For over 60 years, the EEOC and Congress have relied on this demographic data legally collected by the EEOC as a foundational tool for enforcing equal employment laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and used it to identify discrimination that would have otherwise gone unchecked.

The Members outline how the proposal would undermine Title VII protections:

"This proposal would rescind this longstanding data collection framework and create

confusion regarding employers' responsibilities, as employers would remain legally required to comply with Title VII, including maintaining employment records that help demonstrate that compliance."

The Members continue by highlighting how the data is essential for ending workforce discrimination:

"Ultimately, eliminating the EEO reporting requirements would not eliminate the need for demographic data-it would merely make that information more difficult, more expensive, and more time-consuming for the Commission to obtain. Workers who experience discrimination would wait longer for justice, and systemic violations affecting hundreds or thousands of employees would be less likely to be identified before additional workers are harmed."

Members also emphasized that the collection of data was both legal and vital:

"Even if strict scrutiny did apply, the Supreme Court has long recognized eliminating

discrimination as a compelling government interest, and the collection of demographic data is narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. In fact, the Commission's proposal cites no cases where a Court has found that its data collection is subject to heightened scrutiny or is in any way unconstitutional… Ultimately, the Commission asks the public to conclude that a reporting framework every administration has utilized for nearly sixty years and courts have repeatedly permitted is suddenly unlawful. The proposed rule fails to provide a persuasive legal basis for such a dramatic departure from longstanding law and practice."

Lastly, members concluded by outlining the long-term damage this proposal would have on Congress's ability to reduce systemic discrimination:

"Rescinding these reporting requirements would reduce the Commission's capacity to detect systemic discrimination, weaken enforcement efforts, and diminish the availability of reliable data that benefits employers, workers, researchers, and policymakers alike. The elimination of this comprehensive reporting tool would further reduce transparency, exacerbate inconsistencies, and limit the Commission's ability to assess national employment trends over time. We must not further hinder the Commission's ability to enforce federal laws and prevent discrimination, especially at a time when the Commission's own workforce has been reduced by nearly 25 percent since fiscal year 2025 under the recent federal staffing reductions."

The letter was signed by: Adams, Alma; Alsobrooks, Angela D.; Amo, Gabe; Balint, Becca; Barragán, Nanette; Beatty, Joyce; Bell, Wesley; Beyer, Donald; Blunt Rochester, Lisa; Bonamici, Suzanne; Boyle, Brendan; Brownley, Julia; Brown, Shontel; Budzinski, Nikki; Bynum, Janelle; Carbajal, Salud; Carson, André; Carter, Troy; Chu, Judy; Cisneros, Gilbert; Clarke, Yvette; Cleaver, Emanuel; Congressional Hispanic Caucus - Rep. Adriano Espaillat; Correa, J.; Crockett, Jasmine; Davis, Danny; Dean, Madeleine; DelBene, Suzan; DeSaulnier, Mark; Dexter, Maxine; Dingell, Debbie; Elfreth, Sarah; Escobar, Veronica; Evans, Dwight; Foushee, Valerie; Frankel, Lois; Friedman, Laura; Frost, Maxwell; Garcia, Robert; Garcia, Sylvia; Gillibrand, Kirsten; Goldman, Daniel; Grijalva, Adelita; Hayes, Jahana; Houlahan, Chrissy; Hoyle, Val; Huffman, Jared; Ivey, Glenn; Jackson, Jonathan; Jayapal, Pramila; Johnson, Henry; Johnson, Julie; Kamlager-Dove, Sydney; Kelly, Robin; Khanna, Ro; Krishnamoorthi, Raja; Lee, Summer; Leger Fernandez, Teresa; Lieu, Ted; Lynch, Stephen; Markey, Edward J.; Matsui, Doris; McBath, Lucy; McBride, Sarah; McClain Delaney, April; McClellan, Jennifer; McIver, LaMonica; Mejia, Analilia; Meng, Grace; Mfume, Kweisi; Min, Dave; Moore, Gwen; Morelle, Joseph; Morrison, Kelly; Moulton, Seth; Mullin, Kevin; Murray, Patty; Nadler, Jerrold; Norton, Eleanor; Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria; Omar, Ilhan; Pelosi, Nancy; Pettersen, Brittany; Pingree, Chellie; Pou, Nellie; Quigley, Mike; Ramirez, Delia; Randall, Emily; Raskin, Jamie; Rivas, Luz; Ross, Deborah; Salinas, Andrea; Sanders, Bernard; Scanlon, Mary Gay; Schakowsky, Janice; Schiff, Adam B.; Scholten, Hillary; Scott, Robert; Sewell, Terri; Shaheen, Jeanne; Sherman, Brad; Simon, Lateefah; Stansbury, Melanie; Stevens, Haley; Strickland, Marilyn; Subramanyam, Suhas; Takano, Mark; Thompson, Bennie; Thompson, Mike; Titus, Dina; Tlaib, Rashida; Tokuda, Jill; Tonko, Paul; Torres, Norma; Torres, Ritchie; Trahan, Lori; Underwood, Lauren; Van Hollen, Chris; Vargas, Juan; Velázquez, Nydia; Wasserman Schultz, Debbie; Waters, Maxine; Williams, Nikema; Wilson, Frederica

To read the full letter, click here.

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