On June 4, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released its “National Enforcement Plan Fiscal Years 2025-2029” (“NEP”). The NEP rescinds the agency’s former “Strategic Enforcement Plan Fiscal Years 2024-2028” adopted in September 2023. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the NEP focuses on issues that EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas has identified as core priorities. The stated purpose of the NEP is to set forth “subject matter priorities to guide all aspects of the EEOC’s work to prevent and remedy unlawful employment discrimination.” Notable items discussed and prioritized in the NEP include:

• Focus on “Overt” Discrimination. Among the EEOC’s substantive priorities, the NEP indicates that the agency will focus on job advertisements that, on account of a protected characteristic, exclude or discourage certain individuals from applying, or encourage certain individuals to apply, including, but not limited to, based on race (e.g., black, Hispanic, Asian, white, male, female, or “diverse candidates”) or other terms that are, or functionally operate, as national origin discrimination (e.g., “guest worker visa holders” or “PERM applicants”).
• DEI and Similar Initiatives Targeted. Pursuant to the NEP, the agency will prioritize programs labeled as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or “similar euphemisms.” This includes, in the EEOC’s view, using race or sex-based quotas or “‘aspirational goals’ that are proxies for quotas” in all aspects of employment. This includes...

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