There has been a claim floating around that President Trump has revoked the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1965, which prohibits hiring and workplace discrimination based on race, religion, sex, or national origin.
This is NOT Accurate! FACTS are below. Let’s clarify this, because there’s some confusion here. Handout here.
- First, Trump cannot revoke the Equal Employment Opportunity Act—laws passed by Congress cannot be undone by a president alone.
- Second, what was revoked was executive order 11246, an order signed Sept. 24, 1965, by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson.
- Johnson’s executive order has done two things:
- (1) It prevented federal contractors from hiring discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin.
- (2) It required that “federal contractors over a certain dollar amount take affirmative action to hire women and ‘minorities’. It sets goals and timetables, not quotas.
- Affirmative Action was always based on merit. Therefore the goals and timetables have been revoked.
Every employer with at least 15 employees still needs to comply with the EEOC laws.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is responsible for enforcing federal laws that make it illegal to discriminate against a job applicant or an employee because of the person’s race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related conditions, gender identity, and sexual orientation), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Most employers with at least 15 employees are covered by EEOC laws (20 employees in age discrimination cases). Most labor unions and employment agencies are also covered. The laws apply to all types of work situations, including hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits.
PS: If you were or are a federal contractor, you have until April 21 to end Affirmative Action and change policies, etc.
Any affirmative action practices (even tracking) related to race and sex will be off the table. I shared more info about this and a legal resources on Linked In (click to view the post here).