Among the barrage of executive orders signed by President Trump upon assuming office was an order revoking a longstanding Executive Order that placed affirmative action requirements on federal government contractors. On January 21, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” revoking Executive Order 11246 based on the President’s position that it perpetuated “illegal discrimination in the Federal Government.”
Executive Order 11246 – signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 – prohibited federal contractors from discriminating in employment decisions on a wide range of protected characteristics, including race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and national origin. EO11246 specifically applied to employers, including construction contractors and subcontractors, with contracts valued in excess of $10,000 with the federal government business in one year. Additionally, EO11246 required government contractors to take affirmative action to ensure that equal opportunity was provided in all aspects of employment and prohibited retaliation against job applicants and employees for asking about, discussing, or sharing pay information.
President Trump’s January 21 order directs the federal contracting process be “streamlined to enhance speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require Federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil-rights laws.” Specifically, the Order directs the Office of Federal Contracting Compliance Programs (OFCCP) within the U.S. Department of Labor, which was tasked with enforcing EO11246, to immediately cease the following actions: promoting “diversity;” holding federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking “affirmative action;” and allowing or encouraging federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin. Additionally, contracting agencies now must include in all federal contracts a term requiring that contractors certify that they do not “operate any programs promoting [diversity, equity, and inclusion] DEI that violate any applicable Federal anti-discrimination laws.”
Employers impacted by this new Order have 90 days from January 21, 2025, to comply with the new regulatory scheme. Although the Order removes significant obligations from federal contractors, they may still be required to adhere to similar requirements under other federal laws. For example, contractors are still required to comply with obligations related to individuals with disabilities and protected veterans under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act, and all employers, including federal contractors and subcontractors, must continue to adhere to additional reporting requirements, if applicable under law, such as filing EEO-1 and VETS-4212 reports.