Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, EXPERT INSIGHTS—DOL Publishes Final Rule Implementing the Trump Administration's Policy to ‘End Illegal Discrimination’, (Aug 26, 2026)

Law Firms Mentioned:Peckar & Abramson

Organizations Mentioned:Peckar & Abramson, PC

By Ariella Cassell and Richard J. “RJ” Pinto II of Peckar & Abramson PC

On August 21, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”), through the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”), published a final rule implementing President Trump’s Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity. The final rule, together with the Executive Order, unwinds the regulatory framework that had been first implemented in 1965.

This final rule follows President Trump’s January 21, 2025, revocation of Executive Order 11246 and DOL’s subsequent direction that OFCCP cease investigative and enforcement activity under that rescinded order.

The final rule becomes effective on October 26, 2026.

Background on Executive Order 11246 and OFCCP.

For more than sixty years, Executive Order 11246 served as the principal source of OFCCP’s race- and sex-based affirmative action regulations for federal contractors and subcontractors. The regulations required covered contractors to maintain affirmative action programs, submit to compliance reviews, and comply with related nondiscrimination and recordkeeping requirements as conditions of doing business with the federal government.

Executive Order 14173 changed that framework. The order announced a federal policy to protect civil rights, promote individual initiative, excellence, and hard work, and terminate discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements. It also directed OFCCP to stop promoting diversity, requiring affirmative action, or allowing federal contractors and subcontractors to engage in workforce balancing under Executive Order 11246.

Why DOL Changed the Rules.

When President Trump revoked Executive Order 11246, the prior implementing regulations were left without a continuing legal foundation. Moreover, DOL concluded that significant portions of the Executive Order 11246 regulatory framework were legally vulnerable as they conflicted with constitutional principles, civil rights law, and statutory authority. In particular, DOL explained that the prior affirmative action regulations went beyond removing barriers to equal employment opportunity by requiring covered contractors to classify workforces by race and sex, compare those classifications against demographic availability benchmarks, identify “underutilization,” and set placement goals where representation fell below expected levels. In DOL’s view, that framework required sustained race- and sex-conscious analysis and numerical goal-setting in employment practices, which the final rule rescinds to conform OFCCP’s regulations to Executive Order 14173 and the Department’s remaining statutory authority.

Current Status.

DOL has now finalized the regulatory changes. The final rule removes the principal race- and sex-based affirmative action regulations in 41 CFR chapter 60 that were promulgated under Executive Order 11246.

Key Takeaways from the Final Rules:

OFCCP’s Executive Order 11246 regulations are rescinded. The rule removes contractor obligations and OFCCP enforcement mechanisms that depended on the revoked executive order, including the prior race- and sex-based affirmative action program framework.
Federal contractors are no longer subject to OFCCP’s Executive Order 11246 affirmative action and workforce-balancing requirements. The final rule implements the administration’s position that federal civil rights laws protect individuals from discrimination and that unlawful preferences should not be required or encouraged through federal contracting rules.

Ariella Cassell

Richard J. “RJ” Pinto II

Peckar & Abramson PC

1325 Avenue of the Americas, 10th Floor

New York, NY 10019

United States

Tel.: +1 201 3433434

E-mail: mseybuck@pecklaw.com

URL: www.pecklaw.com/

Attorneys: Ariella Cassell and Richard J. “RJ” Pinto II (Peckar & Abramson).

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