On January 21, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order, “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” This EO revokes a series of other executive orders, including longstanding civil rights protections for workers employed by federal contractors, and threatens private entities that promote equal opportunity—including businesses, nonprofits, philanthropic foundations, professional associations, and higher education institutions— with civil investigations and potential litigation. Read our factsheet on the Executive Order here.

The Trump EO rescinds a 60-year-old executive order signed by President Johnson and expanded by later presidents, Executive Order 11246. EO 11246 provided core civil rights protections for workers employed by federal contractors—approximately one–fifth of the entire U.S. labor force—by prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or gender identity. The EO also helped open the doors of opportunity and promote fairness in pay and promotions by requiring contractors to undertake affirmative efforts to promote equal opportunity and prevent discrimination. EO 11246 was fundamental in ensuring that businesses who receive the privilege of contracting with the federal government did not use taxpayer dollars to unlawfully discriminate against working people.

To ensure that taxpayer dollars were not misused for discrimination, the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) had unique powers to identify and address patterns of discrimination that individual employees may not have sufficient information to challenge. Pursuant to the Trump EO, however, the Department of Labor must stop all investigative and enforcement activity under EO 11246, including efforts to affirmatively evaluate federal contractors’ compliance with EEO laws. Read our full fact sheet here.