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Takeaways
- An internal EEOC memo reportedly directs the agency to discharge all disparate impact discrimination claims.
- The directive furthers an executive order issued by the president earlier this year.
- The policy is a significant departure from the EEOC's previous enforcement strategies and may have the effect of allowing parties alleging disparate impact claims to bypass the administrative process under federal law.
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Article
In a major shift in federal civil rights enforcement, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) will no longer pursue complaints based on the legal theory of "disparate impact," according to an internal agency memo obtained by The Associated Press.
The memo, distributed to EEOC area, local, and district office directors on Sept. 15, 2025, reportedly directs the agency to discharge all complaints rooted in disparate impact theories by Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025.
This legal concept of disparate impact, which has been codified into Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, holds that even facially neutral workplace policies can be discriminatory if they disproportionately hinder the success of certain groups, unless such practices are found to be job related and consistent with a legitimate business necessity.
The EEOC's move aligns with an executive order issued in April by President Donald Trump, which instructed federal agencies to deprioritize disparate impact claims. The administration argues that such claims promote the assumption that any racial imbalance in the workforce stems from discrimination, placing an undue burden on businesses.
The internal memorandum reportedly states that EEOC claimants who submitted EEOC charges based solely on a disparate impact theory would receive, on or before Oct. 31, 2025, "Right to Sue" notices from the agency saying the EEOC will not investigate, or has ceased investigating, these claims. Claimants will also be notified that if they want to pursue their claims further, they will have to do so in court without agency participation.
This policy change marks a significant departure from previous federal government enforcement strategies. While some, including the AP, speculate that this change "is expected to have wide-ranging implications for civil rights protections in the workplace," it is possible this policy shift will have no impact or, quite possibly, have the opposite of the intended impact and allow claimants to essentially bypass the administrative process and proceed straight to court on these types of claims. It continues to be important that employers be prepared by, for example, documenting disparate-impact analyses and job-relatedness defenses.
The EEOC has not yet updated its website about this change. As of this writing, the agency's Prohibited Employment Policies/Practices page still states that the EEOC enforces, among other things, disparate impact discrimination claims.
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