A federal district court has issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Labor Department from requiring recipients of federal contracts and grants to certify that they do not have illegal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The order does not affect contracts and grants with agencies other than DOL.
The ruling came April 14 in Chicago Women in Trades [CWIT] v. Trump. The preliminary injunction also forbids DOL to terminate CWIT’s Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) grant.
CWIT’s lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois challenges portions of two executive orders from President Trump:
- E.O. 14173’s certification provision; and
- E.O. 14151’s termination provision, which requires federal agencies to terminate equity-related grants and contracts.
The preliminary injunction, like an earlier temporary restraining order in the same case, blocks DOL from making grant recipients and federal contractors across the country certify that they do not have illegal DEI programs. However, it forbids DOL to terminate only one of CWIT’s five grants — unlike the TRO, which forbade DOL to terminate any of CWIT’s five grants.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, can read more here.