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On March 26, 2026, President Trump issued a new Executive Order—“Addressing DEI Discrimination by Federal Contractors.”The EO addresses DEI activities that discriminate via disparate treatment by race or ethnicity. The EO does not cover disparate treatment for other categories such as sex, national identity, religion, age, and disability status.

In January 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order (EO) 14173. The EO ordered government agencies, contractors, and other federally funded organizations to stop DEI programs that violate Federal civil rights laws. The General Services Administration (GSA) is proposing to add new certification language regarding unlawful DEI programs in the System for Award Management (SAM) for entities registering for eligibility for federal financial assistance (i.e., grants).

The recent letter from the EEOC to Fortune 500 leadership signals a renewed focus on ensuring Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives align strictly with Title VII and other non-discrimination mandates. While the agency confirms that most inclusion efforts remain lawful, employers must now carefully distinguish between broad outreach programs and decision-making processes that could be viewed as using protected traits like race or sex as determining factors. 

After several years of litigation, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) will be posting federal contractor EEO-1 race/ethnicity and gender data from 2016-2020 in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR). The data will be posted on February 25, 2026.

For decades, HR compliance followed a predictable rhythm. Federal guidance set the baseline, state laws made some adjustments, and you audited your HR processes annually. If a gap appeared, you fixed it. 

Best Practices for Federal Contractor Employers in 2026 

If you haven’t yet heard, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Payroll Audit Independent Determination program (PAID) is officially back, with some changes and updates. For HR professionals, especially those working on compensation, compliance, and employee trust, this is a development worth paying attention to.  

On November 18, 2025, EEO Leaders, an organization comprised of Democratic-aligned former EEOC and OFCCP officials, published a response (“EEO Leaders Response”) to the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) July 2025 Memorandum titled “Guidance for Recipients of Federal Funding Regarding Unlawful Discrimination.”

As non-essential government offices reopen, human resources, EEO, and compliance professionals in government contractor workplaces may want to generate a few priority to-do lists.   

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) just announced an interim final rule related to automatic extensions of employment authorization. Employment authorization documentation (EADs) is no longer automatically extended when an alien files to renew their application on or after October 30, 2025.