Extract:
With less than two weeks in office, President Donald Trump has already cut federal DEI programs and rescinded an equal opportunity policy for federal contractors that dates back to 1965. While the president has not signed anything targeting private companies, employers are clearly reaching a crossroads.
Big names like Target, Walmart, Meta and Amazon have announced plans to pull back their diversity initiatives, while companies like Costco, Goldman Sachs and Apple have publicly defended their inclusivity efforts in the workplace. The Trump administration argues that DEI programs are inherently discriminatory, particularly against white candidates and workers, echoing the reasoning behind the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision to rule against the use of affirmative action in admission decisions in colleges and universities.
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“The notion is that every person of color, women, any trans person, they’re all there because of affirmative action,” says Ann Olivarius, women’s rights attorney, chair and senior partner at McAllister Olivarius. “It’s so insulting and humiliating — it’s an active threat against us.”
Olivarius reminds private employers that Trump’s executive orders do not impact them. The Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972, which prohibits workplace discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability and marital or family status, still stands.
She spoke with EBN about the future of DEI under Trump and what employers should consider before they act.
What’s at risk for DEI under the current administration?
Trump has already put a person in place to run the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who hates diversity. She cannot get rid of the EEOC, but she certainly can dismember it and make it ineffective. She can choose not to enforce the law. And MAGA says that they’re doing this because they believe if you’re Black and you get hired, then it’s not really on merit. The [administration] will do so much damage to people of color, to women, who have dreams and aspirations. This sounds like Nazi Germany in 1937. Trump is a surreal threat to all the good values that we have as a country, and while current anti-discrimination laws are still in place, he’s not going to want them to be enforced.
What would you say to employers who are considering pulling back their DEI efforts?
The law does not require it — these executive orders don’t require it yet for private firms. Please respect American democracy and American laws. Please don’t start hate-mongering. These executive orders aren’t the law, but they will be treated as the law if employers bow down. Businesses are going to be much better off if they do the right thing morally and ethically and don’t start cutting off wide swathes of people just because of their skin color or background. Do the right thing, and do what you’ve always should have done: Hire the best people for the job, whether they’re Black, white, it doesn’t matter.
What advice do you have for those who continue to champion diversity?
Fight, call your lawyers and use your union. Get ready to organize, write articles, use social media — do what you can to fight for your dignity so you’re not extinguished, because that’s what this administration is trying to do. They’re doing the unimaginable already.