On July 4, 2025, the President signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which has sweeping tax changes that will affect individuals and businesses.
Executive Order 14281: Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy
On April 23, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14281 (EO 14281), entitled “Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy.” EO 14281’s expressed purpose is “to eliminate the use of disparate impact liability in all contexts to the maximum degree possible to avoid violating the Constitution, Federal civil rights laws, and basic American ideals.”
By way of background, “disparate impact” can result from applying a facially neutral policy or practice that has a negative impact on individuals based on their protected characteristics. It is unintentional discrimination. For example, requiring a high school diploma for a job could limit consideration of people in some protected classes if, statistically, people in those classes are graduated from high school in fewer numbers than those of other protected classes AND there is no demonstrable relation between the requirement (high school graduation) and the performance of the particular job. In other words, there is a disproportionate and negative impact on a particular protected class, and the job in question does not actually require that qualification. Several federal civil rights statutes prohibit disparate impact in addition to prohibiting intentional discrimination on the basis of an individual’s protected characteristics.
EO 14281 directs the U.S. Attorney General and all federal agencies, including the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), to repeal or amend regulations pertaining to disparate impact liability. Additionally, they are to “deprioritize” enforcement that imposes disparate impact liability. However, EO 14281 cannot amend existing law, including judicial case law, that applies to private employers. Disparate impact claims may still be brought under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other laws affecting private employers, including under state laws. Therefore, employers must continue to evaluate their employment practices to ensure that the practices do not result in a disparate impact based against a protected class.
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