State Affirmative Action Requirements After Executive Order 14173
Original Air Date: April 16, 2025 (2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EDT)
Revoking Executive Order 11246 removed the federal affirmative action framework that many employers had been quietly relying on to satisfy their state obligations too. Those state obligations never depended on the federal one, and they are still in force.
The trigger is a contract with the state, not a presence in it. An employer headquartered in California with no California state contracts may owe nothing, while an employer in another state holding a Minnesota contract may owe a great deal.
What Employers Need to Know
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Many states do not use the words affirmative action. California calls it a Non Discrimination in Employment Plan, Minnesota now calls it a compliance plan, and elsewhere the language is equal employment opportunity or non-discrimination.
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California requires a utilization analysis at 250 or more employees, run separately for each race and ethnicity subgroup rather than for minorities as a single block. That is the sharpest divergence from the old federal method. No goal setting is required.
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Minnesota's Workforce Certificate is triggered by a single contract worth $100,000 and 40 full-time employees in the state. It costs $250, lasts four years, and the department will reject a submission signed by anyone other than the CEO.
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Illinois requires an IDHR registration number at 15 or more employees. Its Equal Pay Registration Certificate, at 100 or more employees, asks for individual wage records rather than aggregated pay bands, which is unusual among state pay reports.
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Wisconsin requires a plan every three years for contracts over $50,000 with 50 or more employees. Non-compliance means being named an ineligible contractor and removed from the state bidders list.
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Cities and counties run their own regimes. Madison, Milwaukee County and Saint Paul each have separate thresholds, and Saint Paul accepts the Minnesota state certificate in place of its own plan.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Do state affirmative action requirements still apply after EO 14173?
Yes. State obligations come from state statutes and contract terms, not from Executive Order 11246, so revoking the federal order left them untouched. What changed is that employers can no longer point to a federal plan to satisfy a state requirement, because there is no longer a federal plan to point to.
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What triggers a state affirmative action obligation?
Holding a contract with that state or locality, in almost every case, rather than employing people there. Each jurisdiction sets its own contract value and employee count thresholds, and they vary widely. The practical first step is a spend report showing which public entities you contract with and for how much.
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Which states have the most demanding requirements?
California, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin and New Jersey were the five the session focused on, both because their requirements are substantive and because they enforce them. Minnesota and Wisconsin can suspend or cancel contracts, and Minnesota can fine up to $5,000 per calendar year for non-compliance.
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What does California require instead of an affirmative action plan?
A Non Discrimination in Employment Plan: a qualitative program plus quantitative reports on selection procedures and workforce composition, with a utilization analysis at 250 or more employees. The two workforce reports must be establishment-specific even though the qualitative program can cover multiple locations.
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Where should a multi-state employer start?
With an inventory rather than an analysis. Pull a spend report showing every state and local contract and its value, set that against employee counts in each jurisdiction, and only then work out which thresholds you cross.
What Has Changed Since This Session Aired
This session was recorded in April 2025. In August 2026, OFCCP published final rules formally rescinding the EO 11246 regulations, narrowing Section 503 and raising VEVRAA thresholds. None of that alters the state requirements above. If anything it makes them more prominent, because the federal framework employers used as a proxy is now gone in regulation as well as in executive order.
Speakers
Joanna Colosimo, M.A., Vice President of Workforce Analytics & Compliance Strategy, Principal Consultant
Dave Sharrer, M.S., Associate Principal Consultant
Sally Makreff, Senior Consultant
Mitchell Chamberlin, M.B.A., Marketing Manager