The short answer is: it depends.
Since Executive Order 14398 was signed in March 2026 (and EO 11246 was revoked more than a year before that) federal contractors have been asking the same question in different ways: Do we still have to post to diversity job boards? Are we creating risk by continuing? Are we creating risk by stopping?
The confusion is understandable. What most people call "diversity job boards" covers several distinct categories, and the compliance analysis for each one is different. Getting this wrong in either direction is a real risk.
Here's how to think through it.
Why the DEI Executive Order Doesn’t Give a Single Answer on Diversity Job Boards
When contractors ask whether they should still post to diversity job boards, they’re often treating “diversity job board” as a single category. It isn’t.
Under that umbrella, you’ll find veteran job boards (outreach to protected veterans as required under VEVRAA), disability-focused job boards (outreach to individuals with disabilities as required under Section 503), race and ethnicity focused boards, women focused boards, and sites targeting other identity groups. The compliance obligation, and associated risk profile, is different for each one.
VEVRAA and Section 503 are federal statutes, and neither was touched by EO 14173 or EO 14398. Posting to veteran and disability job boards as part of good faith outreach is still a legal requirement for covered federal contractors.
Race and ethnicity focused boards are where the question gets more complicated, and where contractors should be getting specific legal guidance rather than making unilateral calls.
VEVRAA Outreach Is Still Required and Veteran Job Boards Haven’t Changed
The Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) is a federal statute. It was not modified by EO 14173 in January 2025 or by Executive Order 14398 in March 2026. Its outreach requirements are unchanged.
Federal contractors with covered contracts of $200,000 or more are required to document good faith efforts to recruit protected veterans. That includes outreach to veteran organizations and job boards. Every job opening must also be listed with the appropriate state Employment Service Delivery System (ESDS).
The documentation requirement is not optional. OFCCP compliance evaluations look for records of outreach activity, including what you did, when you did it, and where postings were distributed. If you’ve been posting to veteran job boards as part of your VEVRAA compliance program, the current regulatory environment is not a reason to stop.
For a detailed breakdown of what those outreach obligations look like in 2026, including the current VEVRAA hiring benchmark, see What the VEVRAA Benchmark Means for Your Job Posting Strategy.
Section 503 Still Requires Disability Job Board Outreach
Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act is also a federal statute that remains in effect.
Federal contractors with contracts above $20,000 are required to make documented good faith efforts to recruit individuals with disabilities. That includes outreach to disability-focused organizations and job boards, along with records of what those efforts looked like and what resulted from them.
The same logic applies here as with VEVRAA. Posting to disability job boards as part of your Section 503 outreach program is a compliance obligation. Stopping that outreach because of EO 14398 confusion would create a compliance gap.
For a full picture of what remained in force after EO 11246 was rescinded, OFCCP Compliance 2026: What Federal Contractors Still Owe covers both VEVRAA and Section 503 obligations in detail.
Race- and Ethnicity-Focused Job Boards: What the DEI Executive Order Actually Says
This is where the picture gets more complicated, and you should ensure that you consult counsel before making decisions.
Executive Order 14398 prohibits federal contractors from engaging in “racially discriminatory DEI activities,” defined as disparate treatment based on race or ethnicity in recruitment, employment, contracting, program participation, or allocation of resources. The administration has also been explicit, in prior DOJ guidance and in the executive order’s fact sheet, about “proxies”: neutral-sounding practices used to achieve race-based outcomes.
A few things worth separating out:
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No affirmative obligation remains. The requirement for outreach to race-focused diversity groups existed under EO 11246, which was revoked in January 2025. It’s gone.
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The risk question is unsettled. Whether posting to minority-focused boards constitutes a “racially discriminatory DEI activity” under EO 14398 is not specified yet. How you frame and document your rationale will matter as that guidance develops.
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Context is everything. Postings tied to race-based hiring targets sit in different legal territory than general outreach to reach a broader applicant pool.
Until there’s clearer agency guidance, the right approach is to review these practices with counsel, particularly if race-focused board postings have been documented internally as part of a DEI program tied to racial representation targets.
What About Other Diversity Boards?
Prior to the recission of Executive Order 11246, it was common to distribute jobs to a range of diverse groups including veterans, individuals with disabilities, racial and ethnic groups, women, and others. That scope has been narrowing over time, but the question remains how far “illegal DEI” extends.
A few examples:
Women-focused boards. EO 11246 required affirmative action in hiring for both race and gender. When that order was revoked in January 2025, the affirmative obligation to conduct outreach to went with it. EO 14398 applies only to race and ethnicity. Continuing to post to these boards for general recruiting purposes is a business decision, not a compliance obligation.
Age-focused boards. These aren’t a federal contractor compliance question at all. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits age-based discrimination but does not create an affirmative outreach obligation for federal contractors. Posting to age-targeted sites is a general recruiting practice, and EO 14398 doesn’t address age.
Why OFCCP Documentation Still Matters After the DEI Executive Order
Whatever you decide about your diversity job board strategy, your documentation obligations for VEVRAA and Section 503 haven’t changed.
Both VEVRAA and Section 503 require federal contractors to keep personnel and employment records covering the full arc of the employment lifecycle — applicants, hires, promotions, terminations, compensation, and other personnel actions. Depending on contractor size and contract value, those records need to be kept for a few years.
So, while you may not need to document posting to diversity sites anymore, you do need thorough documentation on posting and outreach to veterans and people with disabilities.
If your current setup doesn’t give you automated posting and three years of image proofs for all required VEVRAA and Section 503 outreach, JobTarget’s Compliance Suite can help.
For a full walkthrough of EO 14398’s enforcement mechanics and the questions HR and compliance teams are working through right now, watch our recent webinar on the executive order, led by a Jackson Lewis attorney with direct experience advising federal contractors through this transition.
