The EEOC Wants to End EEO-1 Reports and Hiring-Test Rules — What Employers Must Still Do

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is moving to scrap several long-standing hiring and reporting rules, and the changes touch ordinary small employers, not just big corporations. If you give job applicants a test, file workforce reports, or write an English-only policy, here is what is proposed, what is still the law today, and what to do while the rules are in flux.

What the EEOC Has Proposed

According to a July 2026 summary from the law firm Kastner Westman and Wilkins, the EEOC has begun proposing a set of rescissions and revisions. The list includes:

• Ending EEO-1 reporting. The EEOC published a proposal on July 21, 2026, to rescind the EEO-1 through EEO-6 reports, which require covered employers to file workforce demographic data.
• Rescinding the 1979 Uniform Guidelines recordkeeping requirements. These are the duties to keep validation documentation and records that allow analysis of selection procedures by race, sex and ethnicity.
• Rescinding the national origin guidelines. Those guidelines suggest English-only rules presume discrimination under a disparate impact theory. The EEOC says the 1980 guidance wrongly presumes English-only policies violate Title VII, and the change aligns with Executive Order 14224, which made English the official language.
• Revising Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations. The revision would narrow the definition of conditions "arising out of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions," which the law firm expects to limit coverage.

The affirmative action piece is further along. The article says the rescission of the 1979 affirmative action interpretive rule and its reporting requirements has already been published in the Federal Register. The EEOC also rescinded its affirmative action guidelines on July 6.

The Hiring Test Rule at the Center of It

The Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures date to 1979 and cover employer hiring tests and other selection procedures. For decades, they gave employers a way to show that a procedure was valid, meaning "job-related and consistent with business necessity," even if it produced a disparate impact on a protected group.

Bloomberg Law reported on July 3, 2026 that the EEOC plans to rescind the guidelines and that its regulatory agenda expected the proposal "this year." A SHRM summary of the agenda says repeal is planned by November.

"Selection procedures" is a broad phrase. It can include a typing test for an office job, a lifting test for a warehouse role, a personality quiz, a background-based screening rule, or a scored interview. If you use any of these, the guidelines matter to you.

What Is Still the Law Today

Here is the most important point: none of this is final. These are proposals, and an agency's regulatory agenda does not itself change legal obligations. SHRM also notes that regulatory deadlines are often missed.

The law firm's article quotes two lines worth keeping in front of you. First, "current reporting obligations remain in effect." Second, "Discrimination of any form is still prohibited, including the disparate impact theory." Changing a guideline does not change Title VII or other civil rights statutes.

That means a few things hold true today:

• If you are a covered employer, you still file your EEO-1 report on the normal schedule until the rule is actually final.
• An employment practice that disproportionately screens out a protected group can still create legal risk, with or without the 1979 guidelines.
• State and local laws are separate. Many states have their own pay, hiring and anti-discrimination rules that do not depend on the EEOC's guidelines.

Why a Rescission Could Create Risk

It is tempting to read these proposals as relief. For many owners, fewer forms is welcome. But the same article cautions that "permanently altering workplace practices based on the current regulatory changes is ill advised."

The guidelines gave employers a structured way to document why a test was fair. If that framework goes away, the burden to explain a screening practice does not disappear. It just becomes less defined. An employer who stops keeping records and later faces a complaint may find it has nothing to show that a test was job-related.

The English-only change works the same way. Dropping the EEOC's presumption against English-only rules does not make every such rule safe. A broad rule that bars workers from speaking another language, even on breaks, can still draw a complaint, and some states restrict them.

What to Do Now

1. Keep filing and keep records

Continue collecting, monitoring and analyzing employee data so you can see whether your policies affect protected groups differently. Keep your validation notes for any test you use. Records you have are always easier to throw out later than to recreate.

2. List every selection procedure you use

Write down each test, screening question, minimum requirement and scoring rubric in your hiring process. For each one, add one sentence on why it relates to the job. If you cannot write that sentence, review the practice.

3. Review any language policy

If you have an English-only rule, limit it to situations where it is necessary for safety or for the work itself, and put the reason in writing.

4. Check your pregnancy accommodation process

The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act remains in effect while revisions are proposed. Make sure a manager knows who handles accommodation requests and how quickly.

5. Review your coverage

Ask your broker whether your policy includes employment practices liability, which covers certain discrimination claims. Our business insurance guide explains how these policies fit with the rest of your coverage.

6. Classify workers correctly

Reporting and anti-discrimination duties depend on who counts as an employee. If you are unsure about your contractors, read our guide to independent contractor vs employee.

What to Watch Next

• The final status of the proposal to rescind EEO-1 through EEO-6 reporting.
• A formal proposal to repeal the Uniform Guidelines, which the agenda timed for this year and SHRM summarizes as planned by November.
• A revision of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations, proposed for November.
• Any revocation of the national origin guidelines, which the agency has said it plans to do "shortly."

Until those rules are final, treat your compliance habits as unchanged. If a filing requirement does disappear, you can stop then. Stopping early costs far more than filing one extra report. This article is general information, not legal advice, so talk with an employment attorney before you change a policy.

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