EEOC obligations as headcount grows

Not legal advice; consult employment counsel. This page is general information for an employer growing past the federal headcount thresholds. Every statement is attributed to the statute, regulation or EEOC page we read on 14 October 2026, and nothing here is a determination about any employer.

What this page adds

Neighbouring pages cover other thresholds: leave at 50 employees in the FMLA employer guide, role classification in the FLSA exemption checklist, per-hire paperwork in the new hire compliance checklist, and what changes for contractors in PEO for government contractors. This page is the EEO lookup: when the federal anti-discrimination statutes begin to apply, what report and records follow, the required poster and how a charge proceeds.

Coverage thresholds: 15 and 20 employees

Title VII, at 42 U.S.C. 2000e(b) (Cornell LII, retrieved 14 Oct 2026), defines “employer” as a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce “who has fifteen or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year,” and any agent of such a person. It excludes, among others, the United States and a bona fide private membership club that is exempt from taxation under section 501(c). The ADA definition at 42 U.S.C. 12111(5) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) uses the same wording with “15 or more employees”. The ADEA definition at 29 U.S.C. 630(b) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) is the same test with “twenty or more employees”, and it also includes a State or political subdivision of a State.

The EEOC’s page on coverage of business/private employers (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) puts it in plain terms: for complaints involving race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability or genetic information, a business is covered if it has 15 or more employees for at least twenty calendar weeks (in this year or last); for age discrimination, 20 or more employees for at least twenty calendar weeks. It adds that “virtually all employers” are covered by the Equal Pay Act, and that an employer not covered by the federal laws may still be covered by a state or local anti-discrimination law. We read no state or local law and state none here.

Who counts toward the number

The EEOC’s page on how to count employees (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) says a worker can usually be counted as an “employee” if the worker has worked for the employer for at least twenty calendar weeks (in this year or last), so some part-time workers count. It says independent contractors are not counted, and that where an employer has more than one worksite, employees at each worksite can in some cases be counted together. The EEOC describes working out coverage as complicated and invites employers to ask a field office. Counting in a shared-employer arrangement is a fact question for counsel; see co-employment explained.

The EEO-1 Component 1 report

The EEOC’s EEO Data Collections page (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that “the EEO-1 Component 1 report is a mandatory annual data collection that requires all private sector employers with 100 or more employees, and federal contractors with 50 or more employees meeting certain criteria, to submit workforce demographic data, including data by job category and sex and race or ethnicity, to the EEOC.” It names as authorities section 709(c) of Title VII, 29 CFR 1602.7 to 1602.14, Executive Order 11246 and 41 CFR 60-1.7(a).

29 CFR 1602.7 (eCFR as of 1 Oct 2026, retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that on or before September 30 of each year every employer subject to title VII that “has 100 or more employees” shall file Standard Form 100 (Employer Information Report EEO-1), and that the employer shall keep at each reporting unit, or at headquarters, a copy of the most recent report filed. For contractors, 41 CFR 60-1.7(a)(1) (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) lists four conditions for the annual EEO-1 filing: not exempt under 60-1.5; 50 or more employees; a prime contractor or first tier subcontractor; and a contract, subcontract or purchase order of $50,000 or more (or serving as a depository of Government funds, or being a financial institution that is an issuing and paying agent for U.S. savings bonds), with a construction-site proviso for lower-tier subcontractors.

The same EEOC page states that the 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection is closed and that updates on the 2025 collection “will be posted to this page as they become available.” On the day we read it the page gave no 2025 filing window or deadline, so we state none; the September 30 date in the regulation text is the annual date in the rule, not a statement about a particular filing year. Check the EEOC page for the current year’s dates and data-collection details before planning a filing.

Recordkeeping

29 CFR 1602.14 (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that any personnel or employment record made or kept by an employer, including requests for reasonable accommodation, application forms and records on hiring, promotion, demotion, transfer, lay-off or termination, rates of pay and selection for training, “shall be preserved by the employer for a period of one year from the date of the making of the record or the personnel action involved, whichever occurs later.” For an involuntary termination, the terminated employee’s records are kept for one year from the date of termination. Where a charge of discrimination has been filed, or an action brought, the employer must preserve all personnel records relevant to the charge or action until final disposition, which the section defines by reference to the statutory period for suit or the end of the litigation.

The EEOC’s recordkeeping page (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) restates the one-year rule and adds that under ADEA recordkeeping requirements employers must also keep payroll records for three years, and keep any employee benefit plan and written seniority or merit system for the full period it is in effect and at least one year after its termination. It adds that under FLSA recordkeeping requirements applicable to the EPA, payroll records are kept at least three years and wage-basis records at least two years. It says these requirements apply regardless of whether a charge has been filed. 29 CFR 1602.12 (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) adds that the Commission has not adopted a generally applicable requirement that records be made, while reserving the right to impose one on individual employers or groups of employers.

The required poster

The EEOC’s poster page (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that the law requires an employer to post a notice describing the federal laws prohibiting job discrimination, that the posters should be placed in a conspicuous location where notices to applicants and employees are customarily posted, and that covered employers are encouraged to also post it digitally on their websites. It says that for employers without a physical location, or for employees who telework and do not visit the workplace regularly, electronic posting “may be the only posting.” It states that Title VII imposes a monetary penalty for covered employers who fail to post, “currently $680” and adjusted annually for inflation. The page carries a notice that documents are undergoing revision pursuant to an executive order, and says posted materials should be the correct version dated in the bottom right corner, so confirm the current version on the page itself.

Charge-processing basics

On time limits, the EEOC’s timeliness page (retrieved 14 Oct 2026) states that in general a charge must be filed within 180 calendar days of the day the discrimination took place, extended to 300 calendar days if a state or local agency enforces a law prohibiting discrimination on the same basis, with a slightly different rule for age discrimination. The EEOC’s page for employers, what you can expect after a charge is filed (retrieved 14 Oct 2026), states that the EEOC will notify the respondent within 10 days, with a link to the Respondent Portal to access the charge and submit a position statement; that a charge “does not constitute a finding that you engaged in discrimination”; that mediation and settlement are voluntary; and that the respondent may be asked for a statement of position, a response to a request for information, an on-site visit and witness interviews. It states that the average time to investigate and resolve a charge was about 11 months in 2023, and tells employers to keep relevant documents.

What we could not confirm

We did not locate an EEOC page carrying the current EEO-1 Component 1 data-collection instructions, so we state no filing window, deadline, snapshot period or portal detail for the 2025 collection; the EEOC page we read says details will be posted. We did not read OFCCP or Department of Labor pages, so we do not state whether the contractor authorities cited by the EEOC page are currently enforced or how they apply to a particular contractor. We did not read the EEOC sub-pages for state or local governments, the EEO-1 form itself, or any state or local anti-discrimination law, which can apply below the federal thresholds. The poster penalty figure is as the EEOC page stated it and is adjusted annually. Statutory and regulatory wording above is paraphrase except for short quoted phrases; read the sources directly before relying on any detail.

Where this sits

Where this sits: the EEO-1 headcount and the leave threshold are separate counts that begin at different sizes. The FMLA coverage test (50 employees) is laid out in the FMLA employer guide, and contractor-specific context is in PEO for government contractors.