Is it legal for HR to require demographic info such as race and gender on a questionnaire? This is NYC?

Supposedly this questionnaire is for emergency contact info--hence we are asked to fill out the form every year in case the info changes, I suppose. But I don't think it's okay for them to require us to report the info.

Is it legal for HR to require demographic info such as race and gender on a questionnaire? This is NYC?
No! Go to Federal EEOC and report that, it's discrimination and is a throw back from the sixties under the guise of security.





Read: En Route To Global Occupation by Gary Kah and Things Your Boss Does Not Want You to Know by Leo Terrell.
Reply:Yes it is, especially if your company is receiving government contracts and have an affirmative action program that requires them to report the racial mix and gender of the employees.





What's the big deal? Do you think that by answering your ethnic background or gender you are opening yourself up to discrimination? I think that your employer already knows that information. Don't you?.





Lighten up Chicken Little.
Reply:It's because Affirmative Action requires that the company hire a certain percentage of minorities.





It's racism, pure and simple.
Reply:it is the governments doing. it keeps division going. i usually put other,then write human for race. do they say you have to answer it? i don't think it is required.
Reply:You don't have to.....it used because some companies get a tax break for hiring certain people. There should be a box to deny an answer.