Trump administration strikes another blow against DEI in federal hiring

The Trump administration struck another blow against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in federal hiring July 31, when an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) rule took effect eliminating references to a 1978 framework that subjects facially neutral hiring procedures to adverse-impact scrutiny when their selection rates differ sharply among racial, sex, or ethnic groups, even without proof of discriminatory intent.

The interim final rule was published in the Federal Register on July 31, one day after OPM announced the action. It removes references to the Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures from four parts of federal personnel regulations and took effect upon publication.

“Federal hiring should be based on merit, qualifications, and the ability to perform the job,” OPM Director Scott Kupor said. “This rule ensures OPM’s regulations reflect legal guidance while preserving the rigorous, job-related standards that help agencies recruit and hire the most qualified workforce in service to the American people.”

OPM explicitly framed the rule as part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to “restore merit to federal hiring and end illegal and immoral DEI programs.” Earlier in July, Kupor said the agency had “eliminated DEI as a part of the hiring process” while discussing its continuing overhaul of the civil service.

The Uniform Guidelines predate the modern DEI label by decades. The administration’s objection, however, is aimed at what it considers the same outcome-first principle: judging a facially neutral employment standard by the demographic results it produces and pressuring an employer to change that standard until racial and sex disparities narrow.

Trump made that connection explicit in an April 2025 executive order directing agencies to eliminate disparate-impact liability to the maximum extent possible. The President wrote that American law should guarantee “equality of opportunity, not equal outcomes” and said disparate-impact rules pressure employers to “consider race and engage in racial balancing.”

Under the previous guidelines, a selection procedure producing an “adverse impact” on a racial, sex, or ethnic group is generally considered discriminatory under the guidelines unless the employer validates the procedure under prescribed standards or otherwise justifies it. Their best-known measurement is the “four-fifths rule”: A group’s selection rate below 80% of the rate for the group with the highest selection rate is generally treated as evidence of adverse impact.

Under the new rule, federal agencies will no longer be required to conduct the guidelines’ adverse-impact analyses or detailed validation studies as a matter of OPM regulation. Agencies may need to remove obsolete language from internal policies, hiring manuals, training materials, and category-rating procedures, but OPM said the rule requires no new systems, studies, or reports.

The action implements a June 9 opinion from the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). As Zeale News previously reported, the opinion concluded that the EEOC’s traditional interpretation of disparate-impact liability can pressure employers to make race-conscious decisions merely to avoid legal exposure.

“Despite trying to promote equality,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at the time, “EEOC’s disparate impact liability interpretation under Title VII actually fosters the very discrimination its guidelines seek to address.” He added that the opinion would “allow businesses to hire based on performance.”

Federal agencies must still base hiring practices on job analysis, preserve a rational relationship between a selection method and performance in the position, use professionally developed assessments, and avoid discrimination on prohibited grounds.

The new rule is already in effect, but OPM will accept public comments through Sept. 29. After reviewing them, the agency may confirm, revise, or withdraw the rule.