NT Lakis attorneys recently participated in a meeting hosted by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to introduce key stakeholder representatives to the agency’s new Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics (OEDA). Headed up by EEOC Chief Data Officer Chris Haffer, Ph.D., OEDA is part of a broad, agency-wide data modernization effort and replaces the former Office of Research, Information & Planning (ORIP).

Among other things, OEDA is responsible for functions previously managed by ORIP, including administering the annual EEO-1 survey and preparation of the annual Performance Accountability Report (PAR) that EEOC must submit to Congress. OEDA will take on a new and expanded role in analyzing discrimination charge data in support of EEOC investigations, as well as enhancing data protection and governance and facilitating greater public access to what EEOC Acting Chair Victoria Lipnic calls a “treasure trove” of enforcement data and statistics.

Indeed, according to its mission statement, OEDA intends to provide its “customers” – both internal and external – with “timely, accurate, and bias-free data and information to prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination, and improve organizational performance.” To accomplish those aims, OEDA will focus on three areas:

  • Reviewing its EEO surveys, including the EEO-1, to examine what the agency collects and how;
  • Building a data warehouse (the “Data Enclave”) that would make certain data available to researchers in an access-controlled, data-secure environment; and
  • Building a prototype data mapping and query tool, including making “public use” data files available to the public.

Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.