Beginning with Monday's portal opening, general counsel started working to make sure their U.S. employers file employee pay data—including for the first time earnings by gender and ethnicity—with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Sept. 30.

In the past employers with over 100 employees have reported total numbers only on the ethnicity and gender of employees. Now, they also must include pay data and hours worked, broken down by ethnicity and gender.

“The EEOC's pay data collection rule creates another administrative burden for companies while raising questions about how the data will be used and analyzed,” Brett Coburn, a partner in Alston & Bird's labor and employment practice, told Corporate Counsel.