“We ended DEI in America,” President Donald Trump declared Tuesday night in his State of the Union address.
The president’s statement follows a yearlong attack on DEI during which some employers rolled back their initiatives, while others stayed the course.
Trump from Day 1 in office made clear his administration would target diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that the administration deemed illegal.
Those early efforts came in the form of executive orders, followed by federal agencies cautioning employers against any efforts done in the name of DEI that violate federal law. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, DEI-related discrimination could include the use of quotas, exclusion from workplace programs and more.
Some employers declined to adjust their programming in response to that pressure, but many high-profile employers jettisoned or renamed their DEI initiatives during the past year.
Management-side attorneys have, in response, generally recommended that HR professionals review their DEI efforts to ensure compliance with applicable laws, but they’ve also cautioned employers about the risks involved with scrapping DEI programs entirely.
