Key Facts About the Equal Employment Opportunity Executive Order Trump Revoked

Key Facts About the Equal Employment Opportunity Executive Order Trump Revoked

President Trump on Tuesday removed a long-standing executive decree that bolstered safeguards against discrimination at work.

The reason it is important: Trump’s plan to eliminate diversity programs, equity and inclusion in the federal government’s hiring policies could set a precedent for private businesses across the country to follow.

Trump’s executive order focused on DEI practices and thwarted a number of earlier orders that sought to ban discrimination at work. One of the most significant laws was anti-discrimination regulations enacted in the administration of President Lyndon Johnson during the Civil Rights era.

What is the Equal Employment Opportunity Act?

In 1965, President Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, which required government contractors to ensure equality for persons of colour and women in recruiting, hiring, and other workplace practices.

It banned discrimination against employees and asked federal employers to take positive action to ensure that employees are treated equally “without regard to their race, creed, colour, or national origin.”
Johnson signed the law within a year of signing his Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Congress extended the executive order contained in the Equal Opportunity Employment Act of 1972, thereby increasing the number of employees protected by protections for workers and requiring states and local governments to adhere to the guidelines set out.

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What does Trump’s executive order say?

The executive order from President Trump is expansive and declares, “Executive Order 11246 of September 24, 1965 … is hereby revoked.”

The executive order asserts that both the public and private sector “have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences,” and that these DEI practices “can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”
It was noted that federal contractors can remain in compliance with the act for the next 90-day period.

A word of caution: Trump’s executive order targets the department’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which is responsible for enforcing Executive Order 11246.

It requires that the OFCCP “immediately cease” promoting diversity and holding federal contractors and subcontractors accountable for affirmative action practices. It also allows or encourages” those same organizations “to engage in workforce balancing” according to race, gender or religious affiliation, sexual orientation and nationality of origin.

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What’s been the response?

Trump’s executive order has caused outrage from civil rights activists and advocacy groups.

“Diversity, equity, and inclusion are aligned with American values,” National Urban League president Marc H. Morial said to Axios. “They are about uniting us, not dividing us. Efforts to paint DEI as a preference program are nothing more than campaigns of smear and distortion.”
Judy Conti, government affairs director of the National Employment Law Project, has slammed the executive order of President Trump in a declaration Wednesday.
“This is not a return to so-called ‘meritocracy.’ Rather, it’s an attempted return to the days when people of color, women, and other marginalized people lacked the tools to ensure that they were evaluated on their merits,” Conti declared.