Despite only having been sworn in as president two days ago, US leader Donald Trump has today (22 Jan) revoked the 1965 Equal Employment Opportunity Act.
The Republican politician previously applied pressure onto the private sector to join an initiative against diversity programs, after ordering aviation officials to review their hiring process.
According to Reuters, Trump, 78, ordered that government DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion) employees would be placed on paid leave.
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The Equal Employment Opportunity Act was previously put into place to both promote opportunities for and protect women, ethnic minorities, LGBTQ+ people and other traditionally underrepresented groups within society.
It also prohibited discrimination in the workplace based on race, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, and marital or familial status.
Ever since it's formation 60 years ago, supporters have continually argued that the program is vital in order to address longstanding inequities and structural racism in the United States.
The order was signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 as a means of protecting the rights of federal contracted employees, ensuring they remained free from discrimination.
As we say, however, as part of a new executive order, Trump has now revoked several pieces of legislation, including the DEI advocacy, and will seek to dissuade private companies using government contracts from hiring marginalised individuals.
The order has branded these practices 'illegal DEI discrimination and preferences', and has since asked government agencies to identify private corporations that should be looked into.
"As a part of this plan, each agency shall identify up to nine potential civil compliance investigations of publicly traded corporations, large non-profit corporations or associations, foundations with assets of 500 million dollars or more, State and local bar and medical associations, and institutions of higher education with endowments over 1 billion dollars," the order said.
How Trump's team plan to enforce these 'civil compliance investigations', however, hasn't yet been determined.
The order noted that federal and private-sector employment preferences for military veterans were permitted to continue.
Amongst those to have since expressed their opposition to Trump's latest move is political strategist and policy advisor Basil Smikle Jr., who hit out at his administration's assertion that such legislation was 'diminishing the importance of individual merit, aptitude, hard work, and determination', due to the suggestion that women and people of colour lacked such merit or qualifications.
"There's this clear effort to hinder, if not erode, the political and economic power of people of colour and women," he told press. "What it does is opens up the door for more cronyism."
Topics: Donald Trump, Politics, US News, News, Jobs
Rhianna Benson