California Pay Data Reporting

Except as allowed by Government Code section 12999, CRD, the Labor Commissioner’s Office/DLSE, and their staff are prohibited from making public any individually identifiable information obtained under this section before an investigation or enforcement proceeding is initiated. Individually identifiable information refers to data associated with a specific person or business submitted under this section. Additionally, Government Code section 12999(h) states that any individually identifiable information submitted to CRD is considered confidential and not subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act.

The deadline for filing pay data reports with CRD is the second Wednesday of May each year. For pay data reports covering Reporting Year 2025, the filing deadline is May 13, 2026. If CRD does not receive a required report by the deadline, they may seek a court order for compliance. CRD can recover costs and the court may assess a civil penalty against employers or labor contractors. 

Employers must use CRD’s pay data portal to submit their reports. CRD will not accept reports by email or hard copy. The portal is available at https://pdr.calcivilrights.ca.gov. To file a pay data report, an employer registers in the portal and provides information about their business, parent/affiliates (if any), and other information. Then, the employer creates and submits its Payroll Employee Report and/or Labor Contractor Employee Report, depending on the employer’s reporting obligations. If an employer is obligated to submit both report types, the employer submits its Payroll Employee Report separate from its Labor Contractor Employee Report. Please see more details here - https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/paydatareporting/ 

To file a Payroll Employee Report or a Labor Contractor Employee Report, an employer's official must certify the accuracy of the report, prepared in accordance with CRD's instructions. The certifying official must have knowledge of the report's information, review it, and be authorized to file it on behalf of the employer. Client employers must have their own official certify the report, not the PEO, HRO, or labor contractor assisting in its preparation and filing. The certifying official can authorize someone else to electronically file the certification. See Part VI for more on PEOs and HROs.

Employers must file a Payroll Employee Report with CRD if they have 100 or more employees (inside and outside of California) and at least one employee in California. When reporting to CRD, employers should include all employees assigned to California establishments or working within California. However, employers should not report employees working outside of California and assigned to an establishment outside of California.

A pay data report covers a single employer, its component establishments (if applicable), and its payroll employees or labor contractor employees assigned to those establishments. Multiple entities can be considered a single employer if they meet the criteria for an "integrated enterprise." Affiliated entities that make up an integrated enterprise have the option to file a combined pay data report for multiple entities. Otherwise, each affiliated company must file a separate report.

To file a Payroll Employee Report for Reporting Year 2025, employers must follow CRD’s instructions provided in the portal, user guide, template, and FAQs. They need to determine if filing is required, identify employees in the "Snapshot Period," gather establishment information, record employee details, calculate group statistics within each establishment, gather additional employer information, register in the portal, provide necessary information, correct any errors, certify the final report, and submit by May 13, 2026.

For more details visit https://calcivilrights.ca.gov/paydatareporting/faqs/

A pay data report shall “cover the prior calendar year, which, for purposes of this section, shall be referred to as the ‘Reporting Year.’” Gov. Code § 12999(a)(1). For example, a Payroll Employee Report due to CRD in 2026 will contain pay data from calendar year 2025 for employees employed during the Snapshot Period; 2025 is the Reporting Year.

The Snapshot Period is a chosen pay period between October 1 and December 31 of the Reporting Year. Employers use this period to identify the employees to be reported on in the pay data report. It is not the period for determining an employee's pay or hours worked, but rather a fixed time frame for identifying payroll employees. Whether an employee was paid during the Snapshot Period does not matter, only whether they were employed during that time.

Senate Bill 1162 imposes penalties on employers who fail to submit required pay data reports. The Department can require non-compliant employers to file the necessary reports and seek civil penalties of $100 per employee for non-compliance, increasing to $200 per employee for subsequent failures. These penalties also apply to labor contractors who fail to provide pay data to client employers. The Department is authorized to recover its enforcement costs. Gov. Code § 12999(f).

Yes.