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Is DEI Illegal Now: Part III – What Does Recent EEOC Messaging Mean for Employer Compliance in 2026

By / 3.11.2026 / No Comments

Executive Summary Between anti-DEI messaging from federal leadership and continued Title VII enforcement actions penalizing race and sex discrimination, private employers and federal contractors face a complicated compliance environment heading into 2026. While rhetoric suggests heightened scrutiny of “illegal DEI,” the legal reality is that Title VII has not changed: employment decisions may not be…
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Part I: The New Compliance Landscape Under EO 14173

By / 11.19.2025 / No Comments

In her recent remarks, former OFCCP Director Catherine Eschbach emphasized that the compliance environment for federal contractors is undergoing a profound transformation under Executive Order 14173, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” She explained that this order establishes a “whole-of-government approach” to identifying and eliminating unlawful DEI practices, meaning that oversight will no longer…
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Proactive Compliance in the Post-EO 14173 Era: A Practical Guide to Self-Auditing

By / 10.23.2025 / No Comments

Eight months after the issuance of Executive Order 14173, the federal contracting community has entered a new compliance era, one defined not by the creation of Affirmative Action Plans, but by the ability to prove nondiscrimination through certification. The transition from Executive Order 11246 to EO 14173 may have simplified paperwork, but it also raised…
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Enforcement Begins: Inside the EEOC’s post-EO 14173 Settlements

By / 10.15.2025 / No Comments

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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Eight Months After EO 14173 — What Changed and What it Means for Federal Contractors

By / 10.8.2025 / No Comments

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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