Key Highlights
The EEOC has submitted a rulemaking item for White House regulatory review that would rescind its 1979 Interpretive Rule, “Affirmative Action Appropriate Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
The 1979 rule currently provides the EEOC’s framework for when employers may adopt voluntary affirmative action plans under Title VII, including where a reasonable self-analysis identifies adverse impact, the effects of prior discrimination or artificially limited labor pools.
A rescission would not, by itself, change Title VII or erase Supreme Court precedent allowing certain voluntary affirmative action plans, but it would remove a longstanding EEOC framework and allowing increased scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs that consider race, sex, national origin or other protected characteristics in employment decisions.
What Is Changing?
The EEOC has moved to rescind its 1979 Interpretive Rule, codified at 29 C.F.R. Part 1608, which has long… Read the complete article here...
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