On 21 January 2025, White House released a public statement on their official site regarding President Trump’s order to revoke the 60-Year-Old Executive Order of Equal Employment Opportunity Act.
What is an Executive Order?
Executive Order is a powerful tool used by the President and is a directive issued by the President of the United State of America to manage various operations within the federal government. It can be used in policy implementation that often requires quick changes bypassing the lengthy legislative process, directing government agencies, and clarifying the existing laws without the intervention of congress or its approval.
However, it does have its own limitations, for instance, courts, after the judicial review, can strike down the Executive Order if they are found unconstitutional or transcends the President’s authority. Another limitation could be that it can be revoked or modified by future presidents which makes them less permanent than the laws passed by the congress.
The same right was used by President Trump to revoke the Equal Employment Opportunity Act among previous other Executive Orders.
Trump describes it as “illegal” diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility policies. Furthermore, he says “ they not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-right laws, they also undermines our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
Hence, On January 21, President Trump issued an Executive Order named “ Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”
Moreover, the Order declared by President Trump is said to ” protect the civil rights of all Americans to promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work.” Under the policy of the issued Order, “ all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to terminate all discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulation, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements.”
What is the Equal Employment Opportunity Act?
Furthermore, all the agencies are ordered “to enforce the longstanding civil-rights laws and combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs, and activities.” The Order all revokes the executive actions taken by the former President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton to promote inclusivity and diversity in hiring for the federal government.
As a part of the issued Order, Executive Order 11246 is revoked. The agencies registered under US Department of Labor that is responsible for ensuring safe, fair, and equitable working conditions as well as implementing EO 11246 is required to immediately crease:
(i) Promoting “diversity”
(ii) Holding Federal contractors and subcontractors responsible for taking “affirmative action”; and
(iii) Allowing or encouraging Federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workplace balancing based on race, color, sex, sexual preferences, religion, or national origin.
Now, let’s get down to the basics.
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Act (EEOA) is a U.S. federal law enacted in 1972 as an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ( an important piece of civil rights legislation, aimed at ensuring fairness and equality in the workplace).
The rise of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 because initially Title VII faced various limitations in enforcement as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) lacked strong power to address the violations regarding workplace discrimination. Hence, Executive Order 11246 signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 was required by the federal contractors to practice nondiscrimination and to take affirmative actions to ensure equal employment opportunity among all.
This includes prohibition of employment discrimination based on: race, color, sex, religion, and national origin. The aforementioned criteria applies to various aspects of employment, such as, hiring, promotions, firing, pay, job assignment, training and various other terms and conditions of employment. EEOA extended its protection to state and local government, educational institutions and labor unions. It is applicable to employers who have 15 or more employees working under them. The employers who wouldn’t comply would risk losing their federal contracts.
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Act enhanced and strengthened the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by granting the authority to :
- Investigate complaints of discrimination in a workplace.
- File lawsuits against employers who violate anti-discrimination laws.
- Mediating disputes between employers and employees.
All in all, EEOA promotes fairness and equality in the workplace by ensuring that no one is discriminated against due to their race, color, sex, religion and national origin and making sure the employment decisions are made based on qualifications and merit rather than discriminatory factors. It plays a vital role in fostering diversity and protecting workers’ rights and promoting an inclusive work environment.
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What does DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) mean?
The order issued by President Trump also includes provisions seeking to end so-called “DEI discrimination and preferences” throughout the government and especially from the private sector.
DEI stands for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. It is a framework that focuses on creating inclusive environments where everyone feels they are valued and can thrive. It emphasizes systemic change, cultural transformation, and the ongoing process of addressing inequalities or discrimination. DEI also focuses on retention, representation, leader development, and fostering a sense of belonging.
It has three key component in DEI:
- Diversity: It refers to the presences of different individuals within a group. This difference could be on race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, socioeconomic status, religion, etc.
- Equity: It refers to ensuring fair treatment, access, and opportunities for all individuals. It focuses on addressing imbalances and systemic barriers that disadvantage certain groups.
- Inclusion: It refers to creating environments where all individuals feel valued, respected, and able to fully participate with a sense of belonging.
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How does DEI differ from Affirmative Action Policies?
DEI and Affirmative Actions are related concepts, however they widely differ in their scope, approach, and objective. DEI has a holistic and long-term approach. It focuses on changing organizational culture and policies to promote fairness and inclusion. Affirmative actions are more policy-driven. Moreover, they are often compliance-oriented and focus on quotas, goals, or preferences to ensure representation of underrepresented groups. DEI is not legally mandated. However, it is widely accepted and adopted as a best practice in organizations, schools, and communities. It is driven by employers’ commitment to social responsibility, innovation, and employee satisfaction. Affirmative action, on the other hand, is rooted in the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Also it is regulated by government policies and subject to legal scrutiny.
Why does the Equal Employment Opportunity Act may be a drawback for American citizens?
While it is clear that the Executive Order 11246 was made to promote equality and practice nondiscrimination in the workplace. It can be argued that certain aspects of its implementation, say, “affirmative actions” requirements may create challenges and unintended consequences.
It can be argued that :
Affirmative actions policies may favor certain groups based on race, gender, or ethnicity rather than merit. This may lead to making decisions for hiring or promotion on perception basis. Also could disadvantage qualified individuals who have worked hard and are more deserving of the promotion or hiring but wouldn’t get one. As they are not part of the targeted underrepresented groups.
Affirmative action policies have been challenged in the court as the argument was put forward that affirmative action policies violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution by prioritizing race or gender in hiring decisions.
Both the arguments mentioned above may create a public misunderstanding as American citizens may misinterpret the intentions of the affirmative action policies, seeing it as a favourable or preferential treatment for certain groups rather than a measure to address systematic inequalities and discriminations.
Different people have different outlook on the revocation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act. Some are supporters of it while others are against the same. The revocation was through although there are still questions on how the issued Executive Order will be implemented.
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Shubhangi Gupta is a distinguished content writer and the visionary founder of The Unpleasant – Acha Nahi Sabse Sacha. With a Master’s degree in Commerce from University of Lucknow, Shubhangi has seamlessly blended her academic background with her passion for reading and writing, embarking on a successful career as a content writer since 2019.
