Posted on: January 28, 2026                                                                                                  

While there is currently no federal requirement for employers to report pay data to the government, a small number of states and one city have adopted such a requirement in recent years. The purpose of these laws is to help identify and address potential pay discrimination. More jurisdictions are likely to contemplate such mandates in the future. The following is a summary of such requirements.

State requirements

California

Under California law, a private employer with 100 or more employees, and at least one California employee, must submit a pay data report covering the prior calendar year to the state on or before the second Wednesday of May each year.

A private employer that has 100 or more employees, with at least one California employee, hired through labor contractors within the prior calendar year must also submit a separate pay data report to the state covering those employees. The private employer must disclose on the pay data report the ownership names of all labor contractors used to supply employees. A labor contractor must supply all necessary pay data to the private employer.

The state recently made changes to its requirement. The changes are summarized below.

Effective January 1, 2026, the amendments require that any employee demographic information gathered by an employer or labor contractor for the purpose of pay data reporting be kept separately from the employee’s personnel records.

Effective January 1, 2027, the amendments increase the number of job categories for which covered employers must report. The list of covered occupations will be the following.

The CRD says the preliminary templates are subject to change and are intended for planning purposes only. An accompanying document provides answers to frequently asked questions on the preliminary templates. Final versions of templates and answers to frequently asked questions should be available in February 2026.

ADP will continue to monitor the status of the templates and report on any updates.

Illinois

In 2021, Illinois amended the Illinois Equal Pay Act (IEPA) to require that private employers report certain payroll information to the Illinois Department of Labor and obtain an Equal Pay Registration Certificate (EPRC).

The Illinois requirement applies to any private employer that has 100 or more employees in Illinois and is required to file an annual EEO-1 with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EPRC must be renewed every two years.

To obtain/renew an EPRC, covered employers must certify, among other things, that the average compensation for their female and certain other employees isn’t consistently below the average compensation for their counterparts within each of the major job categories in the EEO-1, taking into account factors such as length of service, requirements of specific jobs, experience, skill, effort, responsibility, working conditions of the job, education or training, job location, use of a collective bargaining agreement, or other mitigating factors.

Since the beginning of 2025, employers have been required to also include the following additional information in their EPRC application:

• Whether the employee is paid on an hourly or salary basis
• If the employee is paid on an hourly basis, the hourly rate
• Whether the employee is covered by a collective bargaining agreement

Additionally, the IDOL has added “Middle Eastern and North African” as an option for identifying employee race, effective in 2025.

Most employers subject to the EPRC requirements were contacted by the IDOL and provided a deadline for initial registration in 2023 or early 2024.

Under the IEPA, even if the IDOL hadn’t contacted the employer, they still had a statutory obligation to complete their initial EPRC submission by March 23, 2024.

As such, some Illinois employers may have a deadline in early 2026, since renewal is required every two years. Employers should monitor the IDOL website for updates to templates, answers to frequently asked questions, and other resources.

Massachusetts

In Massachusetts, the law requires employers with 100 or more employees in the Commonwealth to report certain data to the state. The reporting requirement applies to an employer that meets both of the following criteria:

• Has 100 or more employees in the Commonwealth at any time during the prior calendar year; and
• Is subject to the federal EEO-1 filing requirements.

Under the new law, no later than February 1 each year, covered employers must submit to the state a copy of their properly completed federal EEO-1 data report for the prior year.

Since February 1 falls on a Sunday this year, reports will be accepted by the state until Monday, February 2, 2026.

When the law was enacted, there was some confusion about whether the law also required pay data reporting. However, in early 2025, the Commonwealth made clear that filing pay data isn’t currently required under state law. If the EEOC were to decide to implement pay data reporting again in the future, though, it would also become part of the required filing in Massachusetts.

Local requirements

New York City

In late 2025, New York City became the first city to enact laws that will require employers to report pay and demographic data annually. The law will also require the city to conduct a pay equity study.

The city’s reporting requirement applies to employers with 200 or more employees working in New York City. The report must include:

• Detailed pay and demographic data that correspond with the categories required by the EEOC in the EEO-1 component 2 reporting requirements for reporting years 2017 and 2018; and
  
  
• A signed statement that confirms the submission of the pay data report and the accuracy of its information.

Covered employers will submit their first pay data reports only after the city establishes a reporting framework, which may take up to three years.

Conclusion

If you are covered by a pay reporting requirement, ensure you file your reports by the applicable deadline. If you aren’t covered, monitor developments as the landscape continues to evolve.