WASHINGTON, D.C. – Earlier this year, President Trump rescinded Executive Order 11246, which forced federal contractors to follow a rigid affirmative action system that privileged identity-based quotas over qualifications for sixty years. This means the Department of Labor is no longer constrained to a failing affirmative action regime. Today Independent Women launched a regulatory comment drive, Support Merit-Based Hiring: Qualifications Over Quotas, to encourage public comments applauding the Department of Labor’s proposed rule to end quotas and restore merit and fairness to federal hiring.

If finalized, this proposed rule by the Department of Labor would:

  • End race- and sex-based mandates for federal contractors. 
  • Eliminate arbitrary workforce benchmarks and placement goals for women and minorities.
  • Restore fairness, merit, and flexibility in federal contracting.

“Ironically, identity-based hiring actually hurts the women and minorities it claims to help by pushing the idea that they don’t have merits on which to get hired fairly.” said Neeraja Deshpande, policy analyst at Independent Women. “The Department of Labor’s rule change would reestablish Americans’ confidence that their tax dollars are going toward hiring the most qualified people, regardless of race and sex.”

The rule changes would bring federal contracting back to true equal opportunity—without government-imposed identity politics getting in the way of employers or employees. The drive will be open for public comments until September 17th at 11:59 PM ET.

This comment drive comes on the heels of another successful citizen engagement effort by Independent Women: Support Aging in Place: Expand Access to In-Home Care, which drove more than 1,500 comments supporting the rule—a substantial percentage of the total comments.

This comment drive is part of Independent Women’s broader effort to promote merit-based hiring and qualifications over quotas in the workforce. Independent Women Features, the grassroots storytelling and original journalism arm of Independent Women, has published stories of everyday Americans harmed by DEI initiatives in their workplaces. See below:

Click here to view the comment drive.

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