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Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

President Trump Rescinds Dozens of Executive Orders on First Day in Office

On his first day in office, President Trump issued an Executive Order (E.O.) rescinding more than 60 E.O.s issued by President Biden. Two of the rescinded E.O.s regulated federal contractors: E.O. 14055, which required successor contractors under the Service Contract Act (SCA) to offer jobs to a predecessor contractor’s employees; and E.O. 14069, which directed contracting agencies to consider requiring contractors to...
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Category: Affirmative Action and Diversity

President Trump Rescinds E.O. 11246

President Trump has issued a new Executive Order formally rescinding Executive Order 11246 and directing the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) to cease holding federal contractors responsible for taking affirmative action. Executive Order 11246 was signed by President Johnson in 1965, and prohibits covered federal contractors from discriminating in employment on the basis of race and sex, among...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

President Trump Designates New Leadership at Workplace Compliance Agencies

President Trump has moved quickly to install new leadership at agencies responsible for workplace compliance. He has already designated new officials at the EEOC, where he named Republican Commissioner Andrea Lucas to serve as Acting Chair, and at the NLRB, where he designated Republican Marvin Kaplan to serve as Chairman. At the Labor Department, he designated career official Vince Micone...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

President-Elect Trump Picks Former EEOC Commissioner Keith Sonderling for Deputy Secretary of Labor

President-elect Trump has announced Keith Sonderling as his choice to serve as Deputy Secretary of Labor. The Deputy Labor Secretary is DOL’s second-in-command and generally manages the department’s day-to-day operations. Sonderling served as an EEOC Commissioner from September 2020 until August 2024. Before that, he served as Acting Administrator of DOL’s Wage and Hour Division. President Trump will have to...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

EEOC Revises Rule Governing EEO Reporting Exemptions

The EEOC issued a final rule January 10, 2025, revising its regulations governing hardship exemptions from annual EEO-1 reporting.   To be exempt from EEO reporting requirements, an employer must show undue hardship. Previously, EEOC Commissioners voted on exemption applications. Now, however, the Chief Data Officer will process applications. Under the new rule, an exemption is more likely to be granted when: The filer...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Finalizes New Bounty Hunter Program

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has published a final rule implementing its bounty hunter program. The rule provides that NHTSA may pay a monetary award to a whistleblower who provides original information that leads to the successful resolution of an enforcement action for violations of laws related to the manufacture or sale of motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment. The...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

EEOC and OFCCP Modify Long-Standing MOU; DOJ Ends Its Participation

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and DOL’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) December 17, 2024, outlining how they will share information and process discrimination charges and complaints. Before doing so, the agencies rescinded a similar 2020 MOU that included the Department of Justice. The EEOC enforces Title VII of the 1964 Civil...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Last Biden Regulatory Agenda Shows Limited Progress on Employment-Related Regulations

The Biden Administration has published the Fall 2024 semi-annual regulatory agenda. The unveiling of the current administration’s final regulatory agenda is largely an academic exercise in view of the Trump Administration’s imminent arrival, but it shows that the Biden Administration made little progress on workplace regulatory priorities in the last few months. According to the agenda: EEOC had planned to...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

Congress Again Averts Government Shutdown by Approving 3-Month Funding Extension

With the government scheduled to run out of funding on December 20, Congress approved a short-term stopgap measure to keep the doors open through March 28, 2025. This year, Congress again failed to pass an annual appropriations bill to fund the federal government before the new fiscal began October 1. Instead, lawmakers enacted a three-month Continuing Resolution that kept government...
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Category: Agency Enforcement

California Is Cracking Down on Employer Noncompliance With Ban-the-Box Law

California’s Civil Rights Department recently entered into settlements with multiple companies over alleged violations of the state’s ban-the-box law, CRD announced December 3. The settlements involved allegations that the companies violated the California Fair Chance Act by improperly rejecting job applicants based on their criminal history. CRD concluded that the companies violated the Act by: Failing to show a direct...

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