When Executive Order 14173 was issued in January 2025, many employers assumed that the revocation of Executive Order 11246 marked the end of federal oversight of affirmative action and diversity initiatives. Eight months later, that assumption has been proven dangerously wrong. While the structure of oversight has changed, enforcement has not disappeared. It has shifted….
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When Executive Order 14173 was issued in January 2025, revoking Executive Order 11246, many federal contractors took a sigh of relief. To some, it appeared that decades of affirmative action planning and federal oversight had come to an end. Yet eight months later, the reality has become unmistakable: EO 14173 did not eliminate compliance requirements….
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Definition of Merit-Based Hiring Merit-based hiring is a recruitment strategy that focuses on selecting candidates based solely on their skills, experience, qualifications, and performance rather than personal characteristics or biases. In simple terms, when companies adopt hiring based on merit, they prioritize measurable factors like job competency, test scores, and work history over subjective elements…
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Guidance for HR Practitioners and Employees Workplace civil rights violations can occur in various forms of discrimination based on race, gender, religion, disability, age, sexual orientation, or retaliation for exercising protected rights. As HR practitioners, it is critical to not only help employees navigate these situations but also protect your organization from liability while fostering…
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If you’re a federal contractor or subcontractor, you probably already know that compliance is essential to protecting your contracts and avoiding costly penalties. One of the most important annual compliance requirements is filing the VETS-4212 report, also known as the Veterans’ Employment Report. This reporting obligation, overseen by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment…
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