What happened?

On July 30, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled in Center for Investigative Reporting v. U.S. Department of Labor that thousands of EEO-1 reports submitted by federal contractors must be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Overview:

In 2022 a lawsuit was filed by the Center for Investigative Reporting and Mr. Evans, after the DOL withheld 16,755 reports from 4,141 contractors who objected to the reports being released because they consider them covered under the FOIA exemption 4 (trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged or confidential).

In January 2025, a federal district court ordered the DOL to produce the EEO-1 reports, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed that ruling. The court rejected the Department of Labor’s argument that the reports were protected as “confidential commercial information” under FOIA’s Exemption 4. The court clarified that for information to qualify as “commercial” under FOIA:

• It must either be made to be bought and sold or describe an exchange of goods or services for profit.

• The reports do not disclose pricing, services, profits, or contract terms, and thus cannot be withheld under Exemption 4.

• EEO-1 reports, which contain aggregated data on race, ethnicity, and gender by job category, do not meet the definition of commercial information.

Unless the DOL appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court within 60 days, the agency will be required to release the reports via the OFCCP’s FOIA Library. Federal contractors should prepare for the potential public disclosure of their workforce demographic data and assess any prior FOIA objections. The ruling may also encourage similar requests in other jurisdictions and increase public scrutiny of diversity practices.

Source References

• Center for Investigative Reporting v. U.S. Dept. of Labor (No. 24-880) – Docket No. 3:22-cv-07182 WHA

Resources

• DOL OFCCP – Freedom of Information Act Library

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