Executive Order 14281 Bars EEOC from Disparate Impact Enforcement

President Trump signed Executive Order 14281, directing the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to cease pursuing disparate impact discrimination claims under Title VII and other employment statutes. The order reversed decades of EEOC enforcement policy that had protected workers from facially neutral hiring, promotion, and pay practices with discriminatory effects, effectively narrowing federal anti-discrimination law to require proof of intentional bias.