January 31, 2025 | By: Scott Johnson
The start of 2025 has brought significant policy shifts in federal workforce accountability and civil rights enforcement. Last week, President Trump issued three executive orders aimed at restructuring career policy positions, ensuring senior executive accountability, and ending diversity policies.
These orders signal a renewed emphasis on presidential control over the executive branch, performance-based federal employment, and a shift away from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Below is a summary of these key executive actions and their potential legal implications.
Restructuring career policy positions
On January 20, 2025, President Trump issued “Restoring Accountability to Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce,” which reinstates and modifies the prior Trump administration’s 2020 policy by reviving Executive Order 13957 with amendments. Its stated goal is to establish greater “accountability in the civil service,” given that “only 41 percent of civil service supervisors are confident that they can remove an employee who engaged in insubordination or serious misconduct” and only “26 percent are confident that they can remove an employee for poor performance.”
The order reclassifies certain federal employees into “Schedule Policy/Career,” formerly known as Schedule F, making it easier to discipline or remove career federal employees for insubordination or poor performance.
It also requires federal employees in policy-influencing positions to faithfully implement administration policies. The failure to do so constitutes grounds for dismissal. Additionally, it directs the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to revoke certain civil service protections implemented in April 2024 that impede the execution of this policy.
We anticipate legal challenges from unions or advocacy groups arguing that the order undermines merit-based civil service principles.
Establishing accountability among senior executives
The order entitled “Restoring Accountability for Career Senior Executives,” issued on January 20, 2025, addresses the role of Senior Executive Service (SES) officials, emphasizing their accountability to the President and the public. It requires agency heads to use all available authorities to reinvigorate the SES system and enforce strict performance accountability. It also mandates the reassignment of SES members to align with the administration’s agenda.
The order further reconstitutes Executive Resources Boards (ERBs) and Performance Review Boards (PRBs) with political appointees to ensure loyalty to executive policies. Finally, the order directs and empowers agency heads to take appropriate action, including removal, against SES members who fail to meet performance standards or uphold the administration’s policies.
This order significantly increases presidential power over SES officials, reducing their job security and potentially impacting the apolitical nature of the civil service. Legal scrutiny is likely, particularly regarding the extent to which career executives can be removed without cause.
Ending diversity policies
The executive order entitled “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” issued on January 21, 2025, seeks to eliminate race- and sex-based preferences in federal employment, contracting, and higher education.
It begins by observing that “critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.” It also suggests that “illegal DEI and DEIA policies … undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
Accordingly, the order revokes executive orders and memoranda that established DEI policies in federal agencies and the private sector. It also prohibits federal contractors from engaging in affirmative action or workforce balancing based on race, color, sex, religion, or national origin. The order directs the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to investigate and enforce compliance with civil rights laws against companies, universities, and other institutions engaging in DEI-related practices.
Beyond employment, the order mandates that the Department of Education issue guidance ensuring compliance with Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, reinforcing a merit-based admissions standard.
Rolling back DEI initiatives could lead to litigation over whether federal agencies and contractors remain compliant with anti-discrimination laws.
Legal considerations for federal contractors and employers
These executive orders mark a decisive shift in federal employment policy and civil rights enforcement. While they aim to enhance accountability and restore a merit-based approach, they also introduce new legal complexities and questions that federal agencies, private employers, and legal practitioners must navigate.
The orders are likely to raise concerns about the separation of powers and the scope of presidential authority. Federal employees also may challenge these orders on the grounds that they violate civil service protections and due process rights under Title 5 of the U.S. Code.
Further, federal contractors may face compliance challenges as they adjust to new employment and hiring policies. Contractors currently undergoing compliance reviews and those bound by conciliation agreements with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) should seek guidance from legal counsel on the appropriate course of action. Contractors under audit may want to hold off on responding to information requests pending further guidance from the OFCCP or counsel.
Employers and government contractors should closely monitor forthcoming regulations and potential court challenges to these executive actions. To discuss how these executive orders may impact you, contact us at 800-747-9354 or email clientservices@dbllawyers.com.
