Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, AGENCY NEWS—Attorney General issues guidance on implementing Trump’s call for English as the official U.S. language, (Jul 15, 2025)

By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.

According to the memo, “the Department of Justice will lead a coordinated effort to minimize non-essential multilingual services, redirect resources toward English-language education and assimilation, and ensure compliance with legal obligations through targeted measures where necessary.”

This week, DOJ released a memorandum providing guidance regarding compliance with Executive Order 14224 of March 1, 2025, which asserts that English is the official language of the United States. Under the guidance, DOJ announced, the DOJ plans to lead a coordinated effort across federal agencies to minimize non-essential multilingual services, redirect resources toward English-language education and assimilation, and “ensure legal compliance with” the EO “through targeted measures where necessary.”

Claiming that it will leave “ample room for the vibrant linguistic diversity that thrives in private and community spheres,” the DOJ nevertheless indicates that the administration plans to streamline federal processes, reduce “administrative burdens,” and “enhance[e] operational efficiency across agencies.” It claims that it will do so by reducing translation services and redirecting resources toward English-language education and assimilation.

EO 14224 rescinded EO 13166, signed by President Clinton on August 16, 2000.

Immediate compliance actions identified in the memo to be taken by DOJ include rescinding prior limited English proficiency (LEP) guidance, conducting internal reviews, temporarily suspending existing LEP guidance, and issuing new guidance over the next 180 days. Actions the DOJ recommends that other agencies take include review of guidance issued based on EO 13166, considering English-only services, using translation technology to save costs, inclusion of disclaimers that English is the official language, and redirection of funds toward English education.

Employment impact. The memo also includes the legal framework DOJ is using to justify this policy, and, within it, there are indications of its potential impact for employees. Among other things, the memo cites an Eighth Circuit decision (Mumid v. Abraham Lincoln High School, 618 F.3d 789 (8th Cir. 2010)) for the position “that a policy that treats people—either employees, or students, or patients, and so forth, of a federal funding recipient—with limited English proficiency differently does not facially discriminate based on national origin.” In a footnote, the memo also states that “Title VII does not pose a prohibition on employers from establishing English-only workplace rules in some cases[,]” citing a district court decision and a Fifth Circuit decision from 1980.

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