Supplemental materials for LEAP 2025 session Here come the new state employment laws for 2025
A new administration always means change, with new policy agendas and new leadership at federal departments and regulatory agencies. Ordinarily, it takes months or even years for new agency rules and guidance to roll out. Not so with the Trump administration, which has adopted an aggressive, expansive and fast-moving approach to enacting change in the federal government.
That has certainly been the case for the federal contracting practices overseen by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. A White House executive order issued the day after President Donald Trump took office is already forcing companies that provide contract services to the federal government to revamp their anti-discrimination policies.
History, rooted in the Civil Rights Movement
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued Executive Order 11246, which was meant to assure that all federal contractors followed the requirements of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, including Title VII. The order added a provision to all federal contracts requiring contractors to refrain from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin.
In addition, the order required contractors to develop plans to make sure protected classes were not excluded from hiring—and significantly, it required contractors to take affirmative action to assure a level playing field.
In the intervening 60 years, repeated additional executive orders built on the protections written into EO11246.
The Trump executive order
On Jan. 21, Trump signed Executive Order 14173 “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” which specifically reverses parts of the 1965 executive order. EO14173 directs the OFCCP to cease promoting diversity and encouraging contractors “to engage in workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preference, religion, or national origin.”
It also requires federal contractors to stop taking affirmative action to prevent discrimination and foster diversity in the workplace. In essence, it reverses the OFCCP anti-discrimination practices mandated by the 1965 executive order.
EO14173 applies to all federal contractors, subcontractors, grant recipients, state and local education agencies and institutions of higher learning that receive federal grants.
Compliance advice: The first step employers should take is to determine whether they are covered as a federal contractor, subcontractor or grant recipient. Work with your organization’s contract compliance staff to locate the contract or contracts that apply. Determine which activities or programs you have in place may be affected EO14173. Then have your attorney review the contract and your programs to determine what next steps may be appropriate.
Expect the OFCCP to soon begin reaching out to contractors to modify existing contract language to incorporate changes mandated by the executive order.
Interested in joining HR Employment Law Advisor? For a limited time, LEAP 2025 attendees can get an annual membership at 30% off at https://www.hremploymentlawadvisor.com/leap30.
