Beyond the EEOC: The Widening Divide in Disparate Impact Enforcement

What employers should know about key developments this week: - **EEOC's New Direction:** The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has scrapped its two-year-old enforcement priorities and rescinded 40-year-old affirmative action guidance in favor of a federal strategy that deprioritizes disparate impact liability and focuses enforcement on disparate treatment claims. - **State-Level Backlash:** Multiple states—including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, and New York—have expanded or maintained disparate impact liability in their civil rights laws, creating direct conflict with federal EEOC priorities. - **AI and Automated Hiring at Risk:** The divergence between federal and state regulators leaves employers uncertain about compliance when using facially neutral employment technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI)-driven hiring tools and standardized testing validation. In this episode of *Employment Law This Week®*, Epstein Becker Green attorney Deborah DeHart Cannavino discusses the EEOC's shift in focus from disparate impact to disparate treatment enforcement and what it means for multistate employers navigating a regulatory patchwork. \- Visit our site for this week's video edition and more news: https://www.ebglaw.com/eltw441 Sign up for notifications: [**https://www.ebglaw.com/eltw-subscribe**](https://www.ebglaw.com/eltw-subscribe "Subscribe to Employment Law This Week") Visit https://www.EmploymentLawThisWeek.com \- *Epstein Becker Green is a national law firm focused on health care and life sciences; employment, labor, and workforce management; and litigation and business disputes. This video is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Viewing this video does not create an attorney-client relationship.*  *[EMPLOYMENT LAW THIS WEEK® and #WorkforceWednesday®]() are registered trademarks of Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.* *© Epstein Becker & Green, P.C. All Rights Reserved. Attorney Advertising.*