Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs OFCCP

On September 24, 1965, President Johnson signed Executive Order 11246, which barred federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin and required larger contractors to take affirmative action, building on orders dating to World War II. The Labor Department created an office to enforce it that year, renamed the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in 1975. Its reach was large because contractors employ roughly a fifth of the American workforce.

For decades OFCCP audited contractors' hiring and pay practices, required written affirmative action plans with hiring goals, and negotiated settlements that recovered back pay for groups of workers. It also enforces two statutes: Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which requires contractors to take affirmative action to hire people with disabilities, and the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, which covers protected veterans.

On January 21, 2025, President Trump revoked Executive Order 11246 and directed agencies to end affirmative action requirements for contractors, and OFCCP stopped enforcing the order and sharply reduced its staff. The 2026 budget request proposed eliminating the office and moving its remaining disability and veterans duties to other agencies. Supporters said the change ended race- and sex-conscious hiring goals and paperwork burdens, while civil rights groups said it removed a key check on discrimination in federally funded jobs.