The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is opening its 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection portal on May 20, closing it just five weeks later on June 24. This year, employers will notice a few important changes. One of the biggest shifts is the removal of the option to voluntarily report nonbinary employees, a feature that had been added in the 2023 instruction booklet. According to a filing submitted in April to the Office of Budget and Management, this option is no longer available. Even though former President Donald Trump had revoked executive order 11246, which banned discrimination by federal contractors, the 2024 instructions still require federal contractors with 50 or more employees to file EEO-1 reports.
This move fits into a broader strategy the EEOC seems to be following under its current leadership. Since the Trump administration’s return to power, and the selection of Andrea Lucas as acting chair, the agency has been shifting gears on how it handles gender identity and sexual orientation issues. Not only was the nonbinary reporting option cut, but other steps have been taken too. The agency removed the “X” gender marker from discrimination complaint forms and pulled its internal “pronoun app” that let employees select their pronouns. They also scrubbed a lot of materials like training guides and public statements that they said were pushing gender ideology. Lucas even hinted at wanting to roll back the new 2024 enforcement guidance on workplace harassment, although she pointed out she would need broader support within the agency to make that happen.
There’s been a clear turn away from previous protections for LGBTQ+ workers. In January, EEOC staff were instructed to stop investigating cases of sexual orientation or gender identity discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. That move directly stepped back from the 2020 Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which had affirmed those rights.
Before these changes, HR professionals had already flagged concerns about how the EEO-1 form’s limited gender options created uncomfortable situations for them and their employees. The option to recognize nonbinary workers, although brief, had been seen as a small step forward. Now, with that option gone and broader shifts in motion, employers and employees alike are bracing for what might come next. In a changing regulatory environment, staying updated is no longer optional — it’s necessary.