As part of the package of executive orders issued on January 20, 2025, the incoming Administration issued Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity, which—among other provisions—rescinded a 1965 executive order (E.O. 11246) concerning the antidiscrimination program for federal contractors managed by the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (DOL OFCCP).
E.O. 11246, when first issued, extended not just to federal contractors but also federal civil service employees; coverage for the civil service employees was later moved under other states, regulations and executive orders and transferred from DOL’s authority to the EEOC’s authority, as the EEOC recounts in its history of federal sector discrimination law included in Management Directive 110. OFCCP, however, retained its program for federal contractors, and the program had remained in force under up through 2025.
Under the new executive order, the OFCCP program under E.O. 11246 is supposed to be wound down, although, as the new executive order notes, “For 90 days from the date of this order, Federal contractors may continue to comply with the regulatory scheme in effect on January 20, 2025.”
While the new executive order does impact one legal enforcement mechanism for discrimination claims, it does not either eliminate OFCCP’s program entirely or eliminate all antidiscrimination protections for government contractors. First, as OFCCP has note on its website (as of the date this blog is posted), “Requirements under Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. 793, and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), 38 U.S.C. 4212, both enforced by OFCCP, are statutory and remain in effect.” The two statutes are affirmative action statutes for hiring by federal government contractors, the former for disabled employees, and the latter for a define category of veterans. Second, the OFCCP antidiscrimination mechanisms have some overlap with the statutory federal sector EEO protections under EEOC authority, as well as some other federal discrimination statutes outside EEOC jurisdiction such as the Civil Rights Act of 1866, as well as state and local antidiscrimination laws in various jurisdictions, remain potentially available to protect federal government contract employees. Depending on the working arrangements for federal contract employees, they may be able to also sue the federal agency for their contract if using the federal sector employment discrimination complaints process, if circumstances exist that would render the federal agency a “joint employer” of the contractor.
If you are a federal contract employee who believes that they have suffered discrimination, and wish learn more about your legal rights and protections, consider contacting Gilbert Employment Law to request an initial consultation.