New EEOC Enforcement Plan Targets DEI Practices

Author: Emily Scace, Brightmine Senior Legal Editor

June 12, 2026

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently unveiled a new National Enforcement Plan (NEP) for fiscal years 2025-29. The new NEP, which replaces a Biden-era plan, cements the agency's commitment to Trump administration priorities such as targeting voluntary diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and deprioritizing job protections for transgender individuals.

Although an agency's enforcement plan does not create new law or change existing legal obligations, it provides valuable insight into the kinds of employer practices that are more likely to trigger enforcement scrutiny.

Enforcement priorities under the new NEP include:

  • Cases involving repeated or overt discrimination, such as:
    • Job advertisements that exclude, discourage or encourage applicants with certain protected characteristics;
    • Steering or segregating individuals based on protected characteristics;
    • Mass denials of accommodations; and
    • Systemic harassment;
  • Programs that advantage guest worker visa holders and green card applicants;
  • Certain DEI practices, such as:
    • Race- or sex-based quotas, including practices labeled "aspirational goals" that the agency believes serve as proxies for quotas;
    • Limiting access to job training or advancement opportunities; employer-sponsored groups or events; bonuses; benefits; perks; and other terms, conditions, or privileges of employment based on a protected characteristic;
    • Diverse slate policies, diverse hiring panel policies, policies that require candidates to submit diversity statements, rubrics or evaluations that consider protected characteristics, executive or other employee compensation or bonuses tied to employee demographic or diversity goals;
  • Cases with the potential to develop or clarify unresolved legal questions;
  • Cases protecting vulnerable workers, including teenage workers, individuals with limited literacy or education, individuals employed in low wage jobs, survivors of sexual assault and workers with developmental or intellectual disabilities; and
  • Cases involving the integrity or effectiveness of the EEOC's enforcement process, such as cases involving retaliation, the EEOC's access to information, or challenges to EEOC policies and guidance.