Data Guardian

Project 2025 was authored by dozens of political Evangelical conservatives. It is promoted as a “Presidential transition plan.” Practically, though, the implementation will dismantle many of the structures, policies, and organizations that have brought our nation closer to the cherished values of equality, liberty, justice, and abundant opportunities for all. As of 01 January 2025, the full text is still available here.

In “Chapter 18: Department of Labor and Related Agencies,” page 583, Project 2025 calls for the Elimination of the EEO-1 data collection. This data collection is sponsored and managed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. It includes decades worth of valuable data regarding employment trends in our country. Data about race, ethnicity, and gender are included.

Eliminate EEO-1 data collection. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission collects EEO-1 data on employment statistics based on race/ethnicity, which data can then be used to support a charge of discrimination under a disparate impact theory. This could lead to racial quotas to remedy alleged race discrimination. (The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) also has a right to the data EEOC collects.) Crude categorizing employees by race or ethnicity fails to recognize the diversity of the American workforce and forces individuals into categories that do not fully reflect their racial and ethnic heritage.

The scope of Chapter 18 is much broader than this one edict. It is full of drastic measures to do away with protections against many types of discrimination. However, the efforts of the Data Guardian focus on mitigating the effects of the one policy proposition, i.e., preserving the data that is at risk of being lost.