Insights

On June 18, 2026, the Illinois Department of Labor took a long-anticipated step by adopting comprehensive amendments to 56 Ill. Adm. Code Part 320, the administrative rules implementing the pay transparency requirements of the Illinois Equal Pay Act of 2003 (820 ILCS 112, the Act).

On June 9, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a formal opinion concluding that the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission’s (EEOC) existing interpretations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) disparate-impact liability, including the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures (UGESP), are unconstitutional. According to the opinion, EEOC’s prior interpretations contemplate liability based on disproportionately adverse effects alone, without regard to an employer’s likely intent, rather than treating disparate impact as an evidentiary mechanism to “smoke out” intentional discrimination. DOJ found that this approach functions as a “qualified racial-proportionality mandate” that places “a racial thumb on the scales, often requiring employers to evaluate the racial outcomes of their policies, and to make decisions based on (because of) those racial outcomes.” The opinion fulfills one mandate of Executive Order 14281, which rejected disparate-impact liability insofar as it “creates a near insurmountable presumption that unlawful discrimination exists wherever there are any differences in outcomes among different [demographic groups].”

Three years have passed since the EU Pay Transparency Directive ("PTD") came into existence, and it now appears highly likely that very few EU Member States will have fully transposed its provisions into national law by the 7 June 2026 deadline.  For employers operating across the EU, this creates a deeply uncomfortable question: what are your obligations right now?

As discussed in our March 30, 2026, client alert, Déjà Vu: New Executive Order Outlines Restrictions on Contractor and Subcontractor DEI Activity, President Trump issued Executive Order 14398 (EO 14398), Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors, on March 26, 2026. The EO declared DEI activities “unethical and often illegal,” required a new mandatory contract clause for federal contracts and subcontracts, and directed the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council to issue an implementing deviation. That deviation has now arrived. At the same time, a coalition of higher education and government contractor associations has filed suit seeking to block the underlying executive order.

On March 26, 2026, President Trump issued an executive order (EO) titled Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors. The EO declares diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) “activities” “unethical and often illegal,” and imposes new obligations on federal contractors and subcontractors related to DEI programming. Contractors that do business with the federal government — or that work as subcontractors for companies that do — should review the EO closely to determine the extent to which they are compliant with the new requirements.

On February 17, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a complaint against Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, Inc., in the United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, alleging that the company violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII) by conducting an event limited to female employees. The EEOC’s lawsuit is one of several recent actions from the EEOC in furtherance of its efforts to end what it refers to as “unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination.” See EEOC and Justice Department Warn Against Unlawful DEI-Related Discrimination | U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Congress has not passed funding bills to keep key parts of the government funded for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2026—including the Departments of Defense, State, Treasury, Labor, Health and Human Services, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Homeland Security, as well as independent agencies, the judiciary, and national security and foreign operations functions. As Congress continues to negotiate a deal in advance of the expiration of funds on January 30, parts of the government may still face a short shutdown, given the time needed for both the Senate and the House to consider and approve legislation. In anticipation of that possibility, agencies whose funding is uncertain are preparing for a shutdown; contractors, grant recipients, and companies that work with those agencies should do the same. Our team is ready and available to advise through the shutdown process.

On January 14, 2026, the United States filed a lawsuit against the State of Minnesota in federal district court, challenging the state's affirmative action requirements for civil service employment as violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). This action comes almost a year after President Trump issued Executive Order 14173, which rescinded federal affirmative action requirements for federal government contractors and set up a potential conflict between federal requirements and certain state contracting requirements. The United States has designated this case as a matter of general public importance. This entitles the federal government to an expedited review by a three-judge panel at the district court with direct appeal to the United States Supreme Court—setting the path for a show-down on affirmative action in employment at the highest court.

Commencing October 29, 2025, Massachusetts will join 14 other U.S. states in requiring certain employers to disclose wage pay ranges both in their public job postings and internally to employees who request the information. The requirement is mandated by the Massachusetts law entitled “An Act Relative to Salary Range Transparency” which aims to increase pay transparency and equity in the Commonwealth.

Congress has not passed crucial funding bills for the start of Fiscal Year 2026.  If Congress fails to act by September 30, the government may be forced to shut down for lack of funding.  In anticipation of that possibility, agencies government-wide are preparing for a shutdown, and contractors and companies that work with the government should do so as well.  Our team is ready and available to help advise companies through the shutdown process.

On July 11, 2025, the Department of Education issued a new interpretive rule entitled “Clarification of Federal Public Benefits under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act.” The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) generally limits “eligibility for ‘federal public benefits’ to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and certain categories of qualified aliens.” The Department concluded that certain postsecondary education programs, “including adult education programs authorized under Title II of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014, [and] postsecondary career and technical education programs under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006,” constitute “Federal public benefits under the PRWORA and thus are subject to PRWORA’s citizenship verification requirements.”

Underscoring the Administration’s intention to eradicate DEI preferences and mandates, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched a new Civil Rights Fraud Initiative (Initiative) to be co-led by DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and Fraud Section. In response, Crowell launched its own DEI and Civil Fraud Initiative to support clients in managing the heightened risks associated with this new enforcement landscape.

On Thursday, June 5, 2025, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, rejecting the "background circumstances" rule that would require majority-group plaintiffs to meet a heightened evidentiary standard in Title VII discrimination cases. The decision vacated and remanded the case for further consideration by the Sixth Circuit. In so doing, the Court held that all plaintiffs – whether minority or majority employees – bringing discrimination cases under Title VII are subject to the same evidentiary standards under the McDonnell Douglas framework for evaluating disparate-treatment claims.

The first day of the Trump Administration included the issuance of 26 executive orders(“EOs”), the most in modern presidential history. Among these EOs, President Trump signed the Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government Executive Order (the “EO” or “Order”). While focused on federal policy, the Order has broad implications for private sector employers.

Late on the night of January 21, 2025, President Trump signed the “Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity” Executive Order (the “EO”). This EO, like a number of the executive orders issued on his first day in office, took aim at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) programs by, among other things, broadly directing executive agencies and departments to terminate all “discriminatory and illegal preferences, mandates, policies, programs, activities, guidance, regulations, enforcement actions, consent orders, and requirements;” curtailing the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs’ (OFCCP) operational authority and directing agencies to scrutinize the DEI practices of private sector employers. Additionally, this language raises questions about the future and status of certain programs, preferences, and set-aside procurements administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration, U.S. Department of Transportation, and other agencies. 

On October 29, 2024, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (“OFCCP”) published a notice in the Federal Register that it received two requests under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) for 2021 Type 2 EEO-1 Reports filed by federal contractors.  The two requests came from the University of Utah and a non-profit organization named “As You Sow.”  The OFCCP notified federal contractors that the information might be protected from disclosure under FOIA Exemption 4, which protects disclosure of confidential commercial information, and requested that any entities that filed these reports and object to their disclosure submit objections by December 9, 2024.  Objectors are strongly encouraged to use the OFCCP portal.  Alternatively, contractors may also submit written objections via email at OFCCPSubmitterResponse@dol.gov, or by mail. 

On May 17, 2024, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed S.B. 24-205, Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence, the first state law in the country to regulate employers’ use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions.  This law regulates both companies that develop and companies that deploy “high-risk” artificial intelligence systems (“AI systems”).  In particular, the law sets forth a set of provisions designed to ensure that developers and deployers use “reasonable care” to protect consumers from any “known or reasonably foreseeable risks to algorithmic discrimination” arising from the use of the AI system.  The law then creates a rebuttable presumption, for both deployers and developers, that reasonable care was used if they meet specific requirements and disclose key information about high-risk AI systems.  This law will be enforced by the Colorado Attorney General, and a violation of the law constitutes an unfair trade practice.  The law becomes effective on February 1, 2026.

Now more than ever, federal contractors find themselves at the intersection of innovation and regulation, particularly in the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI).  AI is now incorporated into a broad range of business systems, including those with the potential to inform contractor employment decisions.  For that reason, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has issued new guidance entitled “Artificial Intelligence and Equal Employment Opportunity for Federal Contractors” (the “AI Guide”).  OFCCP issued the AI Guide in accordance with President Biden’s Executive Order 14110 (regarding the “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence”), which we reported on here.  The AI Guide provides answers to commonly asked questions about the use of AI in the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) context.  The AI Guide also offers “Promising Practices,” which highlight a number of important considerations for federal contractors.  Focusing on federal contractors’ obligations and attendant risks when utilizing AI to assist in employment-related decisions, the AI Guide also provides recommendations for ensuring compliance with EEO requirements while harnessing the efficiencies of AI.

On April 15, 2024, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) announced in a press release its implementation of a Final Rule on the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (“PWFA”), published that day in the Federal Register.  The Final Rule fundamentally extended the PWFAs protections, broadly defining what had been ambiguous phrases to expand the scope of individuals qualifying for accommodations, when employees and applicants for employment may seek an accommodation, and how employers should engage with them upon receiving a request for accommodation.

On January 30, 2024, the FAR Council issued a proposed rule entitled “Pay Equity and Transparency in Federal Contracting” (“Proposed Rule”). The Proposed Rule would: (1) prohibit contractors and subcontractors from seeking and considering information about job applicants’ compensation history when making employment decisions about personnel working on or in connection with a government contract; and (2) require contractors and subcontractors to disclose, in all advertisements for job openings involving work on or in connection with a government contract placed by or on behalf of the contractor or subcontractor, the compensation to be offered to the hired applicant for any position to perform work on or in connection with the contract.