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Overview

California law requires private employers with 100 or more payroll employees — including at least one California employee — to file an annual pay data report with the California Civil Rights Department (CRD). This report must be submitted through the CRD's online portal by the second Wednesday of May each year. For Reporting Year 2025, the deadline is May 13, 2026.
The California Payroll Employee Report in Greenshades generates a CRD-formatted .xlsx file using your existing payroll data for a selected snapshot period. The file is a compliant starting point — after downloading, you will need to complete a small number of fields before uploading to the CRD portal.

What the Report Includes

When you run the report, Greenshades automatically:
  • Assigns employees to establishments based on their work location effective on the snapshot date, and flags your headquarters location
  • Groups employees by Job Category (EEO), Race/Ethnicity/Sex, and Pay Band using CRD's current reporting-year codes
  • Calculates mean and median hourly rates and total annual hours per employee group
  • Includes an Employee Detail worksheet with one row per employee, showing the data behind each grouped row
 

Before You Begin

To get the most accurate output, confirm the following before running the report:
  • Employee work locations are assigned and up to date in Greenshades as of your chosen snapshot date
  • Employee race, ethnicity, and gender/sex information has been collected and recorded. Employees without a selection will be grouped into separate observer-perception buckets for your review
  • W-2 Box 5 earnings and annual hours data is available for the reporting year

How to Run the Report

  1. Navigate to Reports in your Greenshades menu.
  2. Search for or locate California Payroll Employee Report.
  3. Select your snapshot period — a single pay period between October 1 and December 31 of the reporting year.
  4. Run and download the report as a .xlsx file.
Note: Snapshot period selection
The snapshot date controls which employees are included and how they are assigned to establishments. It does not affect annual pay or hours totals — those are always calculated using full-year data.
 

After Downloading: What You Need to Complete

The downloaded file is formatted for CRD upload, but a few fields cannot be pre-filled by Greenshades and must be completed manually before submission:
  • NAICS Code — Enter the six-digit NAICS code for each establishment. Use the U.S. Census Bureau NAICS search tool at census.gov/naics if you need help identifying the correct code.
  • Major Activity — Describe the primary business activity for each establishment.
  • Missing Job Categories — Review the Employee Detail tab for any rows showing "Job Category: Not Available" and assign the correct CRD job category before filing.
  • Observer-Perception Demographics — Employees with no race/ethnicity/sex selection on file are grouped into separate buckets. Review these rows on the Employee Detail tab and adjust if needed.
  • Clarifying Remarks — Add any required row-level notes, including cases where Pay Band was assigned using W-2 Box 1 instead of Box 5.
 

Using the Employee Detail Tab

The exported file includes a second worksheet called Employee Detail. This tab contains one row per employee and is designed to help you review and verify the data before filing. It includes:
  • Employee ID, name, work location, and home address
  • Job title, Job Category, department
  • Race, ethnicity, gender/sex, pay band, exemption status, and employment type
  • Total annual hours worked, total annual weeks worked, and W-2 earnings used for Pay Band assignment

The Employee Detail tab is for your review only and should not be uploaded to the CRD portal.

⚠️ The exported file contains extra worksheets — these must be removed
The .xlsx includes the main report tab plus additional worksheets (Employee Detail and others). The CRD portal expects a single-tab file. These extra sheets must be deleted before uploading. This is a common cause of portal rejections.

Troubleshooting

Some employees are missing from the report

Only employees present during the selected snapshot period are included. If an employee is missing, confirm that they were active during that pay period and that their work location is assigned in Greenshades.

An employee appears under "Unassigned" establishment

Employees with no work location assigned in Greenshades as of the snapshot date will appear under a single Unassigned establishment. Assign the correct work location in the employee's record and re-run the report, or manually move the employee in the exported file before filing.

Demographic groupings look incorrect

Employees who did not self-identify their race, ethnicity, or sex are grouped automatically into observer-perception buckets. Review the Employee Detail tab, make updates in employee profile and re run the report, or update the groupings in the exported file as needed before submission.

The file is rejected by the CRD portal

The most common causes of portal rejection are: an outdated file template, blank required fields (NAICS Code or Major Activity), or invalid code values. Double-check that all required fields are completed, and refer to the CRD's current-year data file specifications at calcivilrights.ca.gov/paydatareporting for field requirements.

Pay Band assignment seems incorrect

Pay Band is assigned using the amount in W-2 Box 5 (Medicare wages and tips). If Box 5 is not available for an employee, Box 1 is used instead and a clarifying remark should be added to that row before filing. Review the Employee Detail tab to confirm which earnings figure was used.
 
Filing deadline reminder
The CRD deadline for Reporting Year 2025 is Wednesday, May 13, 2026. Reports must be submitted and certified through the CRD pay data portal at pdr.calcivilrights.ca.gov. Greenshades cannot submit the report on your behalf.
Keywords: California pay data reporting, CRD, payroll employee report, snapshot period, pay band, EEO, job category, race ethnicity sex, NAICS, mean hourly rate, median hourly rate, annual hours, remote employees, establishment, headquarters, CRD portal, compliance