On June 4, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) approved a new “National Enforcement Plan Fiscal Years 2025-2029,” which rescinds and replaces the agency’s prior “Strategic Enforcement Plan Fiscal Years 2024-2028.”
Background
An enforcement plan sets the EEOC’s subject-matter priorities and guides the agency’s work across outreach, education, technical assistance, investigations, conciliation and litigation over a multi-year period. The enforcement plan, issued under the authority of EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, formalizes the enforcement agenda the agency has pursued over the past year. In announcing the plan, Lucas said it reaffirms the agency’s commitment to “merit-based, evenhanded enforcement” of the nation’s civil rights laws.
National Enforcement Plan
The plan establishes the following enforcement priorities:
- A focus on intentional discrimination. The enforcement plan prioritizes claims of intentional discrimination (disparate treatment), which it characterizes as “inherently more egregious” than unintentional disparities (disparate impact). Consistent with President Trump’s April 2025 executive order (EO 14281), the agency will eliminate the use of disparate impact theories “to the maximum degree possible” and will not commence, develop or continue disparate impact litigation.
- Scrutiny of DEI programs. The national enforcement plan identifies diversity, equity and inclusion policies as a potential form of intentional discrimination, expressly referencing practices “often adopted by large corporations, prominent universities, and other elite institutions.” Identified targets include diverse-slate and diverse-panel policies, diversity statements in hiring, “aspirational goals” used as quota proxies, sharing employee race or sex data with managers, and compensation tied to demographic goals.
- “Anti-American” national origin discrimination. The plan makes protecting American workers a priority, targeting policies, programs or practices that preference guest-worker visa holders or PERM applicants.
- Single-sex spaces and sex-based classifications. The plan emphasizes employees’ right to single-sex intimate spaces and the right to “express the binary nature of sex,” and it seeks to clarify the scope of the Supreme Court’s Bostock v. Clayton County decision as applied to gender identity. Defending single-sex spaces is listed as a standalone chair priority.
- Religious accommodation and religious liberty. The enforcement plan elevates religious accommodation enforcement and makes protecting workers’ religious liberty rights a standalone chair priority. It also identifies religious organizations and employers as an area for amicus participation.
- Development of the law under recent Supreme Court precedent. The plan prioritizes analysis of cases involving Title VII and DEI practices, programs and policies — including Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, Muldrow v. St. Louis (the “some harm” standard), and Students for Fair Admissions — and signals it may revisit the voluntary affirmative-action framework of Weber and Johnson v. Santa Clara County.
The enforcement guidance does not change the underlying federal labor laws the EEOC enforces, including Title VII, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA). Employers should also note that a shift in agency enforcement priorities does not eliminate the possibility of private lawsuits brought by employees, former employees or applicants, including disparate impact claims that remain available under existing law.
Higher education HR leaders should consult with their institution’s counsel to discuss the EEOC’s enforcement posture and how it may affect your institution’s policies and procedures. CUPA-HR will keep members apprised of further updates from the EEOC.