From Reuters
Former US labor officials urge contractors to stand firm on DEI
By Simin Jessop and Richa Naidu
A group of former U.S. Department of Labor officials has urged federal contractors to maintain their corporate diversity policies in the face of legal threats by the Trump administration, a letter, opens new tab seen exclusively by Reuters showed.
In an open letter to firms that hold federal government contracts, the ten signatories - whose tenures straddled the Clinton, Obama and Biden administrations - said the administration of President Donald Trump has no authority to forbid companies from running equal opportunity programs.
Yet the former officials [including Executive Fellow, Jenny Yang ] who worked at the U.S. Department of Labor and its Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which enforces anti-discrimination laws, said the government’s actions on DEI were legally unsound.
“Although the federal government has chosen to dismantle diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs in its own workplaces at its own peril, the government cannot prohibit private employers from engaging in fully lawful strategies to advance equal opportunity for all,” the letter said...
Jenny R. Yang is a partner in Outten & Golden’s Washington D.C. office, where she represents employees in individual, class and collective actions and advises state and local governments in enforcement actions. She is an Executive Fellow in Applied Technology Policy.
