Federal contractor EEO-1 reports not protected under FOIA

On December 23, 2023, the U.S. District Court of Northern District of California held that EEO-1 reports are not protected from release under exemption 4 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The court in Center for Investigative Reporting v. U.S. Department of Labor determined that the EEO-1 reports don’t contain the type of “commercial” information protected from disclosure by exemption 4 of FOIA.

Background

Employers generally treat their EEO-1 reports as confidential because they contain detailed demographic and workforce information. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is prohibited under criminal penalty from making public the individual company data, but the confidentiality provisions of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 haven’t been incorporated by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, so federal contractors’ and subcontractors’ EEO-1 reports can be sought under FOIA.

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) response to requests to release EEO-1 reports under FOIA has been that of federal contractors’ and subcontractors’ EEO-1 reports are exempt from release because they fall under exemption 4 of FOIA as confidential commercial data.

Facts