As if the Obama administration hasn't done enough to ensure that government bureacurats run your business, the EEOC has just announced that it will begin collecting extensive employee data starting March 2018:

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced that starting March 2018, it will collect summary employee pay data from certain employers. The new data will improve investigations of possible pay discrimination, which remains a contributing factor to persistent wage gaps. The summary pay data will be added to the annual Employer Information Report or EEO-1 report that is coordinated by the EEOC and the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP). OFCCP collects data from federal contractors and subcontractors.    

 "More than 50 years after pay discrimination became illegal it remains a persistent problem for too many Americans," said EEOC Chair Jenny R. Yang. "Collecting pay data is a significant step forward in addressing discriminatory pay practices. This information will assist employers in evaluating their pay practices to prevent pay discrimination and strengthen enforcement of our federal antidiscrimination laws." 

Pay discrimination is illegal and it should be. But there are already remedies for it without creating this system that will require expensive bookkeeping and probably won't benefit many women who aren't torte lawyers.

In April, when it became clear that the administration was going to establish these new "gender police," Diana Furchgott-Roth explained how it came about and what it will mean. Seems that a data collecting bill was introduced in Congress long ago. It didn't pass but Diana reported that the president would be "doing an end run around Congress to give the feminists what they want."

She wrote:

The EEOC is manipulating the obscure Paperwork Reduction Act for its exact opposite purpose. Right now employers are annually required to complete a form, called an EEO-1, with 140 data points. The commission’s plan is to change the form, beginning next year, to encompass 3,360 data points. Public comments on the new form were due April 1, and the EEOC is expected to issue its final decision this summer, pending approval from the Office of Management and Budget.

This would put an enormous compliance burden on businesses. Companies with 100 or more workers would be required to report on employees by 14 different gender/race/ethnicity groups, within 12 pay bands and 10 occupational categories. The companies will also have to report the number of hours worked per employee—even for salaried staff, whose hours now are not normally tracked. Firms with multiple locations will have to complete such forms for each branch with more than 50 employees, meaning an establishment with 10 offices could find itself juggling 33,600 data points.

. . .

When the Obama administration decides to collect countless thousands of new data points, it has a purpose in mind. Not much imagination is required to see that the plan here is to give Washington new powers to police the workforce. Let’s hope the Office of Management and Budget will refuse to approve the new form. Do you want the leaders of “Equal Pay Day” demonstrations to be running your business next year?

Accordng to the subhead on Diana's story, employers will have to report on employees by 14 gender, race, or ethnicity groups, within 12 pay bands.