The California Pay Data Reporting portal is now open, with pay data reports due Wednesday, May 13, 2026. This compliance alert covers requirements new and old for the 2025 reporting year.
Summary
California’s Civil Rights Department has opened its dedicated pay data portal ahead of this year’s May 13 reporting date.
Organizations familiar with the process are advised that new data fields have been added for the 2025 reporting year. These are:
- Employee’s exemption status (with regard to minimum wage and overtime pay provisions of the California Industrial Welfare Commission wage and/or the federal Fair Labor Standards Act – Exempt or Non-exempt)
- Employee’s employment type (“Full-time,” “Part-time,” or “Intermittent.”)
- Employee’s number of weeks worked during the reporting year (inclusive of any form of paid time off)
Additionally, please note that the report templates have been updated, and that submissions using old templates will be rejected.
Who Is Impacted?
California Government Code section 12999 applies to private employers with:
- 100 or more payroll employees, and/or 100 or more labor contractor employees; and,
- At least one employee:
- Physically working at a location in California; or,
- Physically located in California and working on a remote/home-based basis; or,
- Residing outside of California but reporting into a California location
Note that payroll and contractor reports are separate submissions—termed “payroll employee report” and “labor contractor employee report” respectively. Employers with 100 or more payroll employees and 100 or more labor contractor employees must submit both types of reports.
Actions Required
On or before the reporting date, employers should build their pay data reports using the latest spreadsheet templates provided by the California Civil Rights Department. Once completed, these should be uploaded to the Pay Data Portal.
Per establishment, the employer must create employee groups consisting of California employees who have the same job category, race/ethnicity, sex, pay band, exemption status, and employment type. Within each employee group, they must then:
- Identify the total number of California employees in the employee group during the snapshot period
- Calculate the total annual hours worked by this group in the reporting year
- Calculate the total annual weeks worked by this group in the reporting year
- Calculate the mean and median hourly rate of the employee group
- Identify the number of California employees who do not work remotely, the number of Remote California employees located within California, and the number of remote California employees located outside of California.
They must also gather the following additional information about each establishment:
- Establishment name
- Address
- NAICS codes
- Major activities
- Total number of California employees
- Prior reporting year filing status
- Identify the headquarters location
The following additional information is required for the labor contractor employee report:
- Name and FEIN of the supplying labor contractor, per employee group
- The snapshot period used with respect to each labor contractor, per employee group
Please see the California Civil Rights Department’s pay data reporting page for a handbook, portal user guide, and FAQs.
Important Dates
The 2025 reporting year filing deadline is Wednesday, May 13, 2026.
The submission deadline is the second Wednesday of May each year. We therefore anticipate the next five filing deadlines to be:
- Wednesday, May 12, 2027
- Wednesday, May 10, 2028
- Wednesday, May 09, 2029
- Wednesday, May 08, 2030
- Wednesday, May 14, 2031
How Affirmity Can Help
Affirmity offers software and consulting services to support organizations filing California pay data reports, including:
- A dedicated State-Level Pay Data Reporting module integrated with our workforce analytics and insights platform
- Access to expert support with the import and management of labor pay data, alongside other compensation and pay equity analysis solutions
Act now: talk to an expert about our California pay data reporting solutions today.
About the Author
Tiffany McNair has been with Affirmity since 2008, starting in Client Support and steadily progressing to her current role as Technical Product Manager. Her extensive knowledge of the industry and company, combined with a passion for problem-solving and innovation, has made her a key contributor to product development and cross-functional teamwork.
Tiffany holds a Corporate Master of Business Administration (CMBA) degree and is PMP certified. Connect with her on LinkedIn.