On his second day in office, January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” This Executive Order reverses roughly 60 years of federal policy and leaves many employers with questions about the future of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and affirmative action programs (AAPs). Federal contractors, who are subject to regulation and oversight by USDOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), are most immediately impacted.
President Trump’s Executive Order revokes, among other executive actions, Executive Order 11246, enacted by President Johnson on September 24, 1965. For the past 60 years, EO 11246 directed the Secretary of Labor to ensure equal opportunity (EEO) for certain protected classes in federal contractors’ recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices.
President Trump’s Executive Order directs OFCCP to “immediately cease”:
- Promoting “diversity”;
- Holding federal contractors responsible for “affirmative action”; and
- Allowing or encouraging federal contractors to engage in “workforce balancing.”
On Friday, January 23, 2025, Acting Secretary of Labor Vincent Micone ordered OFCCP (and all other DOL employees) to “immediately cease and desist all investigative and enforcement activity” under the rescinded EO 11246. As a result, USDOL is directed to end “all pending cases, conciliation agreements, investigations, complaints, and any other enforcement-related or investigative activity.” The Secretary’s Order also provides that federal contractors subject to open reviews or investigations should receive notice from OFCCP or USDOL by January 31, 2025, that the review or investigation has been closed.
Federal contractors may have lingering questions regarding OFCCP’s EEO and AAP requirements related to veterans and individuals with disabilities. The Secretary’s Order directs that those reviews and investigations “are being held in abeyance pending further guidance.” Notably, unlike the now-rescinded EO 11246, the EEO and AAP requirements related to veterans and individuals with disabilities are found within statutes and not executive orders.
Federal contractors (and other employers with a vested interest in DEI) would be well advised to contact their employment attorneys to make a specific plan to understand and comply with the rapidly changing landscape of DEI, affirmative action, and equal employment opportunity requirements in federal contracting.
