June Tip of the Month: EEOC announces updated priorities in National Enforcement Plan
On June 4, 2026, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) adopted a new National Enforcement Plan (NEP) for 2025-2029.
The NEP signals a departure from Biden-era priorities, particularly with respect to disparate impact liability, DEI programs, certain sex-related issues, and religious liberty. In particular, the NEP states that the EEOC will eliminate the “use of disparate impact liability theories in investigations to the maximum degree possible,” and will not “commence, develop, or continue to pursue litigation” that advances disparate impact claims. Disparate impact claims allege that a facially neutral policy or practice affects protected groups in a discriminatory manner. Further, the NEP articulates new substantive priorities, including (1) addressing the legality of DEI programs; (2) protecting individuals from “anti-American national origin discrimination”; (3) “[d]efending women’s rights to single-sex spaces”; (4) workers’ “rights to express the binary nature of sex”; and (5) protecting “religious liberty rights” in the workplace. Employers should review existing policies, as well as DEI programs, to ensure compliance with Title VII, while monitoring workplace issues that could implicate the NEP’s new priorities.
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Before proceeding, please note: If you are not a current client of Perkins Coie, please do not include any information in this e-mail that you or someone else considers to be of a confidential or secret nature. Perkins Coie has no duty to keep confidential any of the information you provide. Neither the transmission nor receipt of your information is considered a request for legal advice, securing or retaining a lawyer. An attorney-client relationship with Perkins Coie or any lawyer at Perkins Coie is not established until and unless Perkins Coie agrees to such a relationship as memorialized in a separate writing.