Private California employers that have 100 or more employees must submit an annual pay data report to the Civil Rights Department (CRD). This year’s reporting deadline is May 14, 2025.
Employer Pay Data Requirements
The Legislature enacted Government Code Sec. 12999 to encourage employers to self-assess pay disparities along gendered, racial, and ethnic lines in their workforce and to safeguard the right to obtain employment without discrimination based on specified characteristics or status.
The law requires private employers with at least 100 employees and/or at least 100 workers hired through labor contractors (including full-time or part-time employees) to report pay, demographic and other workforce data. The 100 employee threshold is triggered when the employer employs that number on a regular basis during the reporting year or employed 100 or more employees during a single employer-selected pay period (defined as a “Snapshot Period”) between October 1 and December 31 of the reporting year.
Pay Data Reports must include detailed information covering 2024, including:
- The number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex in 10 different job title categories;
- The number of employees by race, ethnicity, and sex, whose annual earnings fall within each of the pay bands used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics in the Occupational Employment Statistics survey; and
- The median and mean hourly rate within each job category, for each combination of race, ethnicity, and sex.
Next Steps
Employers should review the CRD’s updated Portal User Guide and Excel/CSV template instructions as they complete and upload their Reports by this year’s deadline, May 14, 2025.
Employers should also visit the CRD’s FAQs and take note of new CRD announcements. One such announcement includes the addition of “Middle Eastern or North African (MENA)” as a race/ethnicity category. Also, the CRD has a new Pay Data Reporting Handbook, which may provide more detailed guidance.
If you have any questions about your obligation to submit a Pay Data Report or any other employment matters, contact an attorney at Cook Brown.
