Written by Brian S Cousin and Casey Katz Pearlman From Fox Rothschild LLP on Dec 30, 2025
Year in review
The change of administration in January 2025 brought about many shifts in the sphere of employment law in the United States. Many of these changes were brought about through Executive Orders issued after Donald Trump was elected president. As of July 2025, President Trump had already signed 171 Executive Orders (EO).6
Within the first few days of his current term as president, Donald Trump issued several EOs aimed at eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programmes and initiatives in employment practices and the workplace. One of these EOs, ‘Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity’, ordered the ‘termination of discriminatory and illegal preferences in hiring’.7 This EO also ordered federal agencies to ‘combat illegal private-sector DEI preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities’. Another EO, ‘Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferences’, declared that DEI efforts are ‘illegal and immoral discrimination’.8 Following the issuance of these orders, the EEOC and United States Department of Justice provided guidance on how they may affect private-sector employment practices.9 As a result of these orders, employers needed to re-assess their hiring practices to ensure compliance and reduce risk of potential litigation.
In April 2025, President Trump issued an EO titled ‘Restoring Equality of Opportunity and Meritocracy’ which declared that it is the policy of the United States to eliminate the use of disparate-impact liability in all contexts.10 The disparate impact theory is often used by employee-plaintiffs in cases of discrimination to assert that members of the non-protected group experienced better treatment in the workplace.11
In addition to DEI and hiring policies, certain practices relating to foreign workers have been changed through the EO titled: ‘Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats’.12 As a result of this EO, visa processing has become significantly less predictable as the EO mandates stricter vetting for foreign nationals seeking visas.13
Lastly, the Trump administration has also begun making changes to collective bargaining rights through EO 1425114 and EO 14343.15 Through these orders, collective bargaining obligations for large portions of the federal workforce and certain identified agencies are removed once the relevant collective bargaining agreement expires. The affected agencies are primarily involved in intelligence, counterintelligence and investigative or national security work.
The EOs mentioned herein are just a few that the current Trump administration has issued in its first seven months. The legality of many of these Executive Orders continues to be questioned and litigated in the courts. Only time will tell how much of an effect these changes will have on the employer–employee relationship going forward.
