On 4 June 2026, the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released its new National Enforcement Plan (NEP) for fiscal years 2025–2029,1 replacing the agency’s 2024–2028 Strategic Enforcement Plan. This alert addresses the agency’s new enforcement priorities, offers insight into the EEOC’s areas of emphasis in the coming years and outlines practical considerations for employers navigating this rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.
As set forth in the EEOC’s press release, the NEP sets out the agency’s priority areas for enforcement activity, including investigations, litigation, and settlements, and continues to focus on a “merit-based” approach to its review of claims of discrimination.2 The NEP represents a major policy shift from prior EEOC enforcement approaches, a shift that aligns with executive orders issued by the Trump administration and the EEOC’s (and the Chair’s) public statements over the past 18 months on the agency’s overall mission.3 Consistent with prior EEOC statements, the NEP will now prioritize litigation of disparate treatment claims over disparate impact claims and will seek to minimize the use of disparate impact theories “to the maximum degree possible, consistent with EO 14281” in its investigations.4 In support of this shift, and in response to a request by the Chair as to the constitutionality of the EEOC’s disparate impact guidelines, the US Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel issued a nonbinding legal opinion on 9 June...
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