EEOC Releases New National Enforcement Plan

Takeaways

• The EEOC’s new National Enforcement Plan for fiscal years 2025–2029 prioritizes intentional employment discrimination, particularly practices that consider race, sex or other protected characteristics.
• Signaling a major shift, The Plan identifies certain DEI-related employment practices as enforcement priorities and de-emphasizes disparate impact claims.
• Employers can expect scrutiny of employment practices that consider not only race, sex, national origin or other protected characteristics, but continued agency focus on religious accommodation, PWFA liability, national origin issues and certain workplace issues involving gender identity and sex-based classifications.

Related links

• National Enforcement Plan (FY2025 – FY2029)
• EEOC Releases New National Enforcement Plan 
• EEOC Proposes to Rescind Employer Voluntary Affirmative Action Plan Guidance 
• EEOC Scraps Internal Voting Procedures, Paving Way to Fast-Track the Trump Administration’s Policy Initiatives, Changes for Employers 

Article

On June 4, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released a new National Enforcement Plan outlining the agency’s enforcement priorities and areas of focus for investigations and litigation. The Plan replaces the agency’s current Strategic Enforcement Plan, which the EEOC approved in 2023.

The Plan reflects the EEOC’s current enforcement priorities and provides insight into the types of charges, investigations, and litigation initiatives the agency is likely to emphasize in the coming years. It also reflects several stated Chair Priorities, including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-related race and sex discrimination, “anti-American” national origin discrimination, certain sex-based workplace issues, and religious accommodation.

The Plan stands out not only for the priorities it identifies, but also its marked policy shift from earlier EEOC enforcement approaches. It is an enforcement-priority document. It does not amend the statutes the EEOC enforces, and the listed priorities are not exhaustive or ranked.

Focus on Certain DEI-Related Employment Practices

The Plan identifies as a priority “[m]atters involving intentional discrimination arising from challenging broad-based employment policies, programs, or practices that result in intentional discrimination against employees or applicants for employment.”

The EEOC states that this priority includes scrutiny of policies, programs, or practices that employers label or frame as “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives. The Plan provides examples that may receive enforcement attention, including:

• Hiring and promotion practices;
• Internship and fellowship programs;
• Diversity hiring panels;
• Diversity statements;
• Race- or sex-based employment goals; and 
• Other employment decisions that take race or sex into account.

For employers, the practical risk often lies in how programs are designed, described, and administered. Neutral outreach, training, mentoring, retention, and equal-access efforts should be kept distinct from practices that reserve opportunities, apply preferences, channel or steer candidates or employees based on protected characteristics, or use protected characteristics as selection criteria.

Memorializes EEOC Will Abandon Disparate Impact Enforcement

In a substantial departure from the agency’s prior enforcement posture but consistent with the Trump Administration’s priorities, the EEOC states that, in light of Executive Order 14281, it “will eliminate the use of disparate impact liability theories in investigations to the maximum degree possible” and “will not commence, develop, or continue litigation advancing disparate impact claims.”

That shift does not remove discrimination risk for employers. It changes where the agency is likely to look. Employers should expect closer attention to the decision record:

• Who made the decision;
• What criteria were used;
• What information was considered; 
• Whether exceptions were made; and 
• What the documents said at the time.

The Plan identifies additional priority areas, including:

• Religious accommodation issues following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 Groff v. DeJoy;
• Issues involving application of the Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County, including workplace facilities and religious accommodation;
• Protection of American workers from anti-American national origin discrimination;
• Protection of vulnerable workers, including low-wage workers and individuals with limited literacy or education; 
• Systemic harassment; and
• Retaliation and other matters affecting the integrity of the EEOC’s enforcement process, including subpoena enforcement, evidence preservation, settlement compliance, and recordkeeping or reporting issues.

Areas Where EEOC May Seek to Develop the Law

The Plan also identifies cases that may promote the agency’s development of the law. That category deserves separate attention because it points to areas where the EEOC may seek to file litigation enforcement cases that clarify or test legal boundaries.

The EEOC specifically identifies unresolved issues involving:

• Certain DEI practices after Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services, 605 U.S. 303 (2025), Muldrow v. City of St. Louis, 601 U.S. 346 (2024), and Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023); 
• Voluntary affirmative action after United Steelworkers of America v. Weber, 443 U.S. 193 (1979), and Johnson v. Transportation Agency, Santa Clara County, California, 480 U.S. 616 (1987), in light of Ames, Muldrow, Students for Fair Admissions, and other recent Supreme Court precedent; 
• The “some harm” standard adopted in Muldrow; 
• Religious accommodation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act after Groff v. DeJoy, 600 U.S. 447 (2023); 
• The scope of Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 U.S. 644 (2020), in certain workplace issues involving sex-based classifications; and 
• The scope of liability under the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.

For employers, these issues matter most where policy becomes practice — in the records, instructions, exceptions, and local decisions that show how employment decisions were made.

What Employers Should Do Now

Employers should review the records and workflows most likely to matter in an EEOC investigation, including hiring, promotion, compensation, layoffs, accommodations, staffing, visa-related practices, DEI-related programs, vendor instructions, and charge-response practices. Continue to ensure that decisions are supported by lawful criteria, contemporaneous records, and consistent implementation.

Please contact a Jackson Lewis attorney with questions about The Plan or for assistance assessing how these priorities may affect your employment practices, records, and EEOC response strategy.