EEOC & DOJ Release Guidelines On "DEI-Related Discrimination"

On March 19, 2025, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("EEOC") and the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") released joint "technical assistance documents" (i.e., non-binding interpretive guidelines for enforcement agents) which identify specific diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI") practices that those agencies may consider "illegal" and "discriminatory."Employers have been awaiting agency guidance following the Trump Administration's various anti-DEI executive orders issued in January, including the Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity executive orders (the "Executive Orders"), which we discussed here, here, and here, and which are ostensibly aimed at combatting "illegal DEI."Despite several active litigations challenging these executive orders (discussed here), the key provisions of the Executive Orders are, at this moment, enforceable and not enjoinedfollowing the Fourth Circuit's recent stay of an earlier