The week of January 20, 2025 brough a series of executive orders, all collectively attacking diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the federal government and as far as federal authority can reach into the actions of the private sector.

This is the sixth in our series of articles on the Trump Executive Orders on affirmative action (AA) and DEI that collectively outline how we got here, what has been eliminated, what new mandates have been issued, what has survived intact, and what employers can do going forward if diversity remains an important value for them.  Past articles covered executive orders ending affirmative action for women and minorities and erasing references to gender identity.  This article highlights the changes resulting from the other recent executive orders and initial responses to implement all the executive orders we have been covering.

Elimination of DEI in the Federal Government

On January 21, 2021, then President Biden had issued an executive order that expressed a commitment to advancing racial equity and directed that “equity principles, policies and approaches” be embedded across the federal government.  The head of each agency was charged with assessing whether underserved communities faced systemic barriers in accessing benefits and opportunities available pursuant to federal policies and programs and allocating federal resources differently as appropriate to address what were identified to be historic injustices and underserved communities.

The Trump administration’s first strike against DEI was to revoke that executive order and repeal all DEI and environmental justice positions and programs across the federal government.  Instead, the administration has directed that federal employment policies should focus solely on individual initiative, skills, and performance.  Another executive order issued the same day requires a Federal Hiring Plan that accelerates implementation of the Chance to Compete Act of 2024, which requires that federal government hiring for competitive service positions transition into using technical assessments wherever practicable.

The Trump Executive Order denounces hiring based on impermissible factors “such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of ‘equity,’” or commitment to the “invented concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex” and seeks to prevent hiring on those grounds.  It also precludes the hiring of individuals “who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve the Executive Branch.”  Although the latter statement is phrased in innocuous terms, the language preceding it prompts questions as to how “faithful” service to the Executive Branch and defense of the Constitution will be defined.

As a side note, for those who are trying to understand how or why DEI was invoked as a relevant factor in the day following a tragic airline disaster last week, it aligns with a Presidential Memorandum issued the preceding week, on January 22, 2025.  The January 22 Trump memo asserted that the Biden administration had “specifically recruited and hired individuals with ‘severe intellectual’ disabilities, psychiatric issues, and complete paralysis.  The Trump memo ordered the Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to cease all DEI hiring programs, and to review the past performance and performance standards of all FAA employees in critical safety positions to confirm they demonstrate “adequate capability.”

Repercussions for Private Sector Contracts and Funds

Of relevance to the private sector, one of the new executive orders further directed that within the next 60 days, federal agencies provide detailed lists of all:

• Federal contractors who provided DEI training or DEI training materials to federal agency or department employees; and
• Federal grantees who received federal funding to provide DEI or similar programs since January 20, 2021.

Although not expressly stated in the executive order, contractors and grantees included on those lists should anticipate that their funding is being cut and contracts are being cancelled.

Expect Changes at the EEOC

The newly designated Acting Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Andrea Lucas announced that she is committed to effectuating the new Trump Executive Orders, publicly listing that her priorities will include:

• “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination;”
• “protecting American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination; “
• “defending the biological and binary reality of sex and related rights, including women’s rights to single-sex spaces at work; “
• “protecting workers from religious bias and harassment, including antisemitism;” and
• “remedying other areas of recent under-enforcement.”

Commissioner Lucas’s ability to proceed with that agenda is hampered by the EEOC’s current lack of a quorum, as two commissioners were terminated by the President, well before the end of their terms in office.

EEOC Daily Operations Continue

Frequently Asked Questions issued by the EEOC on February 4, 2025, reassure that the Commission is still open for its daily business of intake, processing, investigation, resolution of charges of discrimination, and issuance of notices of right to sue.  The EEOC lacks the ability at present to vote on rulemaking, issue new policies, or rescind guidance documents. This means, for example, that the EEOC’s Guidance on Harassment in the Workplace rand its Strategic Plan for 2022-2026 remain accessible on the Commission’s website and have not yet been altered.

Recognition of the LGBTQ+ Community Is Receding

Commissioner Lucas is quoted in the press release announcing her appointment as saying, “I intend to dispel the notion that only the ‘right sort of’ charging party is welcome through our doors…”  Since assuming her post as acting chair, however, it has been reported that the “X” and “Mx” gender markers have been removed from the EOC’s intake forms and employees can no longer access the option to display pronouns on their Microsoft 365 profiles.  Aside from the references in guidance documents that require a quorum to be revised, EEOC materials related to gender identity and expression are no longer available through its website.  Notably, though, the EEOC’s intake portal currently still enables employees to indicate they believe they experienced discrimination because of “sex (including sexual orientation; or transgender status).”

Contraction of the OFCCP

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) is in the midst of major change.  OFCCP’s website reiterates key portions of the Trump Executive Order with regard to ending most affirmative action compliance requirements.  The agency also makes clear, consistent with Part III in our blog series, that the requirements of Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) (for individuals with disabilities and veterans) are statutory and remain in effect.

Further changes are anticipated in the coming weeks.

By Tracey I. Levy