On 21 January 2025, President Trump issued Executive Order 14173, which, among other things, directs federal agencies to investigate and enforce against “illegal DEI” in the private sector. Building on Executive Order 14173, the Department of Justice and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) have released guidance stating that DEI/DEIA practices may violate federal law when employment decisions are influenced, whether in whole or in part, by race, sex, or other protected characteristics.

The guidance also underscores that federal law’s prohibition against discrimination applies to all terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, including not only hiring, promotion, compensation, and termination decisions, but also fringe benefits; access to (or exclusion from) training; access to mentorship, sponsorship, and workplace networks; internships and fellowships; interview selection (including placement or exclusion from a candidate “slate” or pool); and job duties or work assignments. The government has carried out Executive Order 14173 through various enforcement actions and investigations against private sector businesses.

In light of the current environment, several major U.S. companies began to reassess their own DEI efforts. Employers across many industry sectors, including retail, technology, media, and financial services, made changes to their DEI programs and policies. This may have a knock-on effect on other regions if multinational employers based in the United States apply their employee policies to their global workforce.

Private employers in the United States have also faced an increase in reverse discrimination lawsuits and shareholder challenges focusing on race or gender conscious programs. In Europe, claims in which an individual from a majority group alleges that they have been unfairly treated because of preferential treatment given to an underrepresented or disadvantaged group are still much less common.

At the EU level, the Pay Transparency Directive that passed in 2023 is due to be implemented by the middle of 2026. The Directive requires employers with 100 or more employees to prepare gender pay transparency reports, with reporting obligations for employers with 250 or more employees starting in June 2027. More fundamentally, employers are expected to identify and correct equal pay differences proactively, often working with employee representatives. Progress toward implementing the Directive has been slow, reflecting the current degree of political instability in many countries. Although the Netherlands has prepared draft legislation, one of the few countries to do so, it confirmed in 2025 that the legislation would not come into force in June 2026 as originally planned, postponing its start date until January 2027.

The UK is no longer covered by EU directives and already has gender pay gap reporting requirements. It is now seeking to expand those requirements to cover race and disability pay gaps. The government launched a consultation on a proposed Equality (Race and Disability) Bill in March 2025, followed by a call for evidence the next month. Alongside mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for employers with 250+ employees, the bill addresses concern that employees from minority groups or disabled employees find it hard to challenge unequal pay. The government may extend the extremely complex equal pay framework to race and disability as well as sex.

Through the same bill, the UK government is also considering pay transparency reforms such as requiring salary ranges in job advertisements or before interviews and banning salary history questions. These are similar to the Directive’s requirements and would mean a more harmonized approach across Europe.

Although the Equality (Race and Disability) Bill has not yet been introduced to Parliament, draft legislation is expected in 2026.

Mexican legislators also introduced a bill in October 2025 to amend the country’s Federal Labor Law. Similar to the UK’s proposal, the amendment would require employers to disclose salary ranges in all job advertisements.

Meanwhile, a proposed reform of Mexico’s General Law for Equality between Women and Men – which aims to eliminate the gender pay gap in the public, social, and private sectors – has been under discussion since 2024. It has not yet advanced in the legislative process, but the conversation is expected to continue into 2026. If passed, the reform would require employers to provide equal pay for equal work of equal value, establish transparent criteria to determine salaries, conduct periodic salary audits, provide accessible information to workers about equal pay rights, refrain from requesting the salary history of job applicants, and ensure that compensation systems are based on objective criteria related to performance and skills rather than gender. Currently, there is no formal right to pay transparency in Mexico, although employers are encouraged to commit to pay equity and must refrain from discriminatory practices in employment.

In the United States, a federal bill to increase pay transparency was introduced in 2023 but it did not progress. However, changes are being seen at the state level; over one dozen states and the District of Columbia currently have pay transparency laws on the books.

Singapore passed the Workplace Fairness Act in February 2025, putting longstanding anti-discrimination guidelines into law and prohibiting discrimination based on age, nationality, sex, marital status, pregnancy, race, religion, disability, language ability, mental health condition, and caregiving responsibilities. The legislation has yet to be implemented and is expected to take effect toward the end of 2027.

A second piece of legislation – the Workplace Fairness (Dispute Resolution) Bill – was passed in November 2025. It amends the Workplace Fairness Act to formalize the process for workplace discrimination claims, including mandatory mediation and adjudication through the Employment Claims Tribunal for claims of up to S$250,000 (US$193,875), or the High Court for higher claims, and provides clearer timelines and protections that may encourage employees to pursue claims when it takes effect in 2027.

In a contrasting move, the U.S. EEOC announced a major shift in its policy in September 2025, stating that it would no longer investigate disparate impact claims. These are similar to indirect discrimination claims in Europe. Instead, it will only take on disparate treatment claims involving a direct connection between the protected characteristic (race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetic information) and the adverse action. However, individuals are still able to bring disparate impact cases privately, after they receive a “right to sue” letter from the EEOC, and the change in policy does not affect disparate impact claims under state-level anti-discrimination laws.