On January 21, President Trump issued an executive order revoking federal civil rights protections and DEI initiatives. The order reverses protections for transgender federal employees and LGBTQ employees of federal contractors established by President Obama in 2014. The order also eliminates non-discrimination protections for employees of federal contractors based on race, national origin, sex, and religion dating back to the Johnson administration.
A new brief by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law finds that the order will remove workplace protections for nearly 14,000 transgender federal employees and over 100,000 LGBTQ employees of federal contractors, along with many more employees of federal subcontractors.
“Transgender federal employees and LGBTQ employees of federal contractors are protected from employment discrimination by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” said study author Brad Sears, Distinguished Senior Scholar of Law and Policy at the Williams Institute. “However, executive orders provide a clear statement that workplace discrimination and harassment are prohibited and have historically provided additional enforcement mechanisms for those experiencing unfair treatment at work.”
President Trump’s executive order also limits the responsibilities of the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which was tasked with protecting workers, promoting diversity, and enforcing non-discrimination laws.
A report released this week by the Williams Institute examining the experiences of employment discrimination and harassment among LGBTQ public sector employees underscores the importance of non-discrimination protections in the workplace. Results show more than 40% have faced employment discrimination or harassment because of their LGBTQ status at some point in their lives.