California Civil Rights Department Issues New Requirements
The CRD (California Civil Rights Department, formerly known as the DFEH) published “Important Announcements for the 2023 Reporting Year” with new resources (guides, templates, training slides, responses to FAQs) and information required to comply with California law’s Pay Data Reporting requirements.
If you are a private employer with 100 or more employees or an employer with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors, California law requires that you annually report pay, demographic, and other workforce data regarding your California employees to the CRD. These requirements must be met this year by May 8, 2024.
New Requirements
The CRD’s requires the following regarding pay data reporting as it relates only to California employees:
- Use of New Templates: As of February 1, 2024, the CRD requires using their newly uploaded pay data reporting Excel templates. Templates from prior years will not be accepted.
- Completion of Additional Data Fields:
- Identification of Remote Workers: The CRD now requires that employers report the number of employees who worked remotely during the reporting period. The CRD defines remote workers as those employees or labor contractors who work remotely in California (i.e. from home, not at the company-established or assigned offices/workspace) with no “expectation to regularly report in person to a physical establishment to perform work duties.” Those workers who split their time working remotely and coming into the office/workspace do not qualify as remote workers for the CRD’s required pay data reporting.
- Identification of Race/Ethnicity, Sex: Those employers with 100 or more workers hired through labor contractors can no longer report as “unknown” the race/ethnicity or sex of a labor contractor employee. Currently, the CRD is following the EEOC’s system for race/ethnicity identification, and employers must select from one of seven race/ethnicity options for each employee. While employees self-reporting their race/ethnicity is the preferred method, the CRD requires that the employer make a selection for each employee should the employee not self-report. For reporting employees’ sex, the CRD recognizes three: male, female, and non-binary. Similarly, should the employee not self-report, the employer must make a selection.
Deferral Requests Are Not Available.
These requirements remain in effect, in addition to the changes to the CRD’s reporting implemented last year. The CRD is “actively pursuing non-filers,” and there are increased penalties should employers fail to comply.
Penalties include $100 per employee, $200 per employee for a repeat failure to report, and the CRD’s ability to recover costs for any enforcement action. Labor contractors who have failed to provide responsive data to their client employer can also be held accountable and assessed penalties.
