The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission of the US Department of Labor (EEO) requires employers to report various information about their employees, in particular, their racial/ethnic categories to prevent discrimination based on race/ethnicity. The definitions used in the report have been different at different times.

2007

In 1997, the Office of Management and Budget gave a Federal Register Notice called the "Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity" which defined new racial and ethnic definitions. As of 2007 September 30, the EEO's EEO-1 report must use these new racial and ethnic definitions in establishing grounds for racial or ethnic discrimination. The racial and ethnic definitions are the same as the official definitions on the US Census. If an employee identifies their ethnicity as "Hispanic or Latino" as well as a race, then their race is not reported in EEO-1, but it is kept as part of the employment record.

A person's color or physical appearance can be grounds for a case of racial discrimination as well.The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. "Race/Color Discrimination". August 15, 2007. We may use this for the purpose of race and ethnicity Discrimination based on national origin can be grounds for a case on discrimination too.