On July 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), through the Attorney General (AG), issued new guidance directed to all federal agencies, and applicable to federal fund recipients, that diversity, equity, and inclusion...more
The EEOC announced the opening of the 2024 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection on May 20, 2025, as anticipated in our previous legal alert on the topic. With the opening of the portal, covered employers are now able to submit...more
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy, which follows a string of prior EOs aimed at removing DEI programs, which we covered here and here....more
4/25/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Disparate Impact ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Employment Policies ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Judicial Review ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Title VII ,
Trump Administration
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday issued a joint press release announcing new “technical assistance documents” identifying specific Diversity, Equity and...more
On March 17, 2025, in an unprecedented action, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”), under the direction of Acting Chair Andrea R. Lucas, issued 20 extensive letters to large, prominent law firms containing...more
3/20/2025
/ Affirmative Action ,
Civil Rights Act ,
Compliance ,
Discrimination ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
Law Practice Management ,
Title VII
On March 14, 2025, a three-judge panel of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, issued an order granting the Trump Administration’s motion to stay enforcement of the District Court’s nationwide preliminary injunction on two...more
On February 21, 2025, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland issued a nationwide preliminary injunction halting the enforcement of three key provisions of President Trump’s Executive Orders intended to...more
2/26/2025
/ Anti-Discrimination Policies ,
Constitutional Challenges ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Due Process ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ,
Executive Orders ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Federal Contractors ,
First Amendment ,
Free Speech ,
Government Agencies ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Trump Administration
On February 5, 2025, newly confirmed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo to all U.S. Department of Justice Departments targeting private employers’ use of DEI initiatives. The memo is titled “Ending Illegal DEI and...more
Real World Impact: On January 21, 2025, on his second day in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” (the “Executive Order”). The...more
Within days of his second inauguration, President Trump issued a number of Executive Orders. While the impact of his Executive Orders will be seen with time, many employers may be left wondering how the Executive Orders...more
Executive Summary: Following the Supreme Court’s decision in SFFA v. Harvard/UNC, Attorneys General from 13 states and United States Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas sent letters to business leaders, warning of potential legal...more
11/6/2023
/ Affirmative Action ,
College Admissions ,
Diversity ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Educational Institutions ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Race Discrimination ,
SCOTUS ,
Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard College ,
Students for Fair Admissions v University of North Carolina
On March 21, 2022, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) dialing back the level of transparency and evidentiary standards for issuing pre-enforcement notices...more
Equal Pay Day marks the point when the average woman’s current earnings, combined with what she earned in the previous year, equals what the average man was paid last year. This year, equal pay day came early because the...more
March 30, 2022 is the deadline for federal contractors, including subcontractors, to register in OFCCP’s recently launched Contractor Portal. Beginning March 31, contractors will have until June 30 to verify compliance with...more
2/21/2022
/ Affirmative Action ,
Data Collection ,
Disability Discrimination ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Federal Contractors ,
Filing Deadlines ,
Hiring & Firing ,
Job Applicants ,
OFCCP ,
Portal
Whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status and/or gender expression remains a heated debate in the courts and between...more
10/6/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Sex Discrimination ,
Sexual Orientation ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender
On July 26, 2017, President Trump announced via Twitter that the military, arguably the country’s largest employer, will no longer allow transgender people to serve, thus breaking from the Obama Administration’s lift of the...more
8/2/2017
/ Civil Rights Act ,
Discrimination ,
Employment Discrimination ,
Gender Discrimination ,
Gender Identity ,
Hiring & Firing ,
LGBTQ ,
Military Service Members ,
Sexual Orientation Discrimination ,
Title VII ,
Transgender ,
Trump Administration