On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order titled, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The order is targeted at what the president describes as “illegal” diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies that:
. . . not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.
The order declares that it is the policy of the United States:
to protect the civil rights of all Americans and to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work. I therefore order all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. I further order all agencies to enforce our longstanding civil-rights laws and to combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.
As part of this order, Executive Order 11246 is revoked and the agency within the U.S. Department of Labor that is responsible for implementing EO 11246 is required to immediately cease:
(A) Promoting “diversity”;
(B) Holding Federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking “affirmative action”; and
(C) Allowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.
As the obligations of government contractors and subcontractors under EO 11246 are contractual, there are many questions as to how the revocation of the executive order will be implemented. Government contractors currently undergoing compliance reviews should consult with their legal counsel as to how to proceed. The same is true for contractors currently subject to conciliation agreements with OFCCP. Contractors under audit may want to hold off on responding to information requests pending further guidance from OFCCP or advice from legal counsel. The order does provide that contractors that wish to continue to comply with the current regulations may, at a minimum, do so for 90 days from the date of the order.
It should be noted that Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (protecting the disabled) and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Act of 1974 (VEVRAA) (protecting certain veterans) and OFCCP’s enforcement of these laws do not appear to be in any way impacted by the new executive order.
The executive order also includes provisions seeking to end so-called “DEI discrimination and preferences” throughout the government and in the private sector. As we continue to analyze the new executive order, we will not only be providing further information for government contractors, but will also publish additional ASAPs explaining the impact of these developments for health care providers, higher education, and employers in general.
