If fired federal workers aren’t already living their worst nightmare, the labor market they’re entering may soon make that their reality.

Some 75,000 workers accepted the Trump administration’s deferred resignation offer, and thousands more have been laid off amid the president’s attempts to slash the federal workforce.

While most federal agencies have refused to disclose who accepted the offer, workers entering the labor market will likely have a harder time finding “higher productivity” private-sector jobs than the administration and DOGE, unofficially overseen by Elon Musk, may have led them to believe. Many private-sector companies have slowed hiring, particularly for highly educated, white-collar workers, who make up the bulk of the federal workforce.

Those hiring, however, may have an opportunity to fill in-demand roles, experts told HR Brew.

Keep reading here.—PM

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) shifted its enforcement priorities in the weeks after President Donald Trump took office, pivoting away from discrimination cases filed by transgender individuals and announcing an intent to target businesses that rely on foreign labor.

EEOC moves to drop transgender discrimination lawsuits. The agency filed motions to dismiss a number of lawsuits it had filed on behalf of transgender individuals, Bloomberg Law reported on Feb. 20. The cases included allegations that employers allowed for “deadnaming,” or referring to a transgender employee by the name they used prior to their transition, as well as misgendering and gender-based harassment, in their workplaces.

The EEOC cited a Trump executive order focused on “defending women from gender ideology extremism” in its motions to dismiss the cases. Other bias charges filed by transgender individuals have reportedly been “elevated for review.”

The agency’s 2024 guidance stated that the behaviors laid out in the lawsuits, such as misgendering employees, violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. But these recent actions suggest the agency will move away from this interpretation of the law, which was grounded in a 2020 Supreme Court decision, Bostock v. Clayton County.

Keep reading here.—CV

KPMG has become the latest Big Four firm to roll back its DEI commitments. According to the Financial Times, CEO Paul Knopp sent an email to KPMG employees saying it would end DEI initiatives like its Accelerate 2025 program, a program,the FT wrote, that “aimed to have half of its partners and managing directors from under-represented groups by this year.”

“The legal landscape surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts has been shifting, via executive orders and in the courts,” Knopp wrote in the email. KPMG is a federal contractor that received $503 million in fees in fiscal year 2024, per Bloomberg Law.

The status of the Trump administration’s DEI-related executive orders is in limbo. A federal court temporarily blocked some provisions of the orders from being enacted, including requirements that “contractors and grant recipients to certify that they do not engage in any ‘equity-related’ programs.”

Three of the Big Four accounting firms have removed DEI data from its websites or otherwise hidden it.

Keep reading on CFO Brew.—CV