TUE AM News: Employers likely to face ‘increased scrutiny’ of affirmative action programs after guidance rollback; Evers slams DOL leader’s threats over UI funding

July 14, 2026

— The law firm Michael Best warns employers will likely face “increased scrutiny” of any affirmative action programs after a federal commission rescinded related guidelines.

After the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last month rescinded its guidelines for these programs, the Milwaukee-based law firm recently rolled out an overview for employers, calling the change “significant but not surprising” given the Trump administration’s DEI stance.

While the change ends the “good-faith reliance employers could point to” when following the commission’s guidance for affirmative action programs, authors note it doesn’t mean every voluntary affirmative action plan is now unlawful. Previous Supreme Court decisions still hold sway, leaving “narrow room for carefully designed” remedial plans.

“Practically, however, the rescission of the guidance will continue to diminish employer appetites to take risk in these areas,” authors wrote.

The overview points to various “lower-risk” options for programs with protected characteristics for eligibility or targets, including using validated selection criteria, mentorship programs remaining open to all qualified employees, pay equity audits, bias training and more.

Given the federal rollback, employers should take the opportunity to review affected programs and “tighten documentation” as well as guardrails and related messaging, authors wrote.

The firm suggests auditing any DEI programs for recruiting, mentorship and promotions for protected characteristic-based eligibility, as well as confirming their legal basis with counsel.

While authors note Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 still remains in effect, they say the commission’s move signals it will “take a harder look at programs that account for protected characteristics” even when they’re framed as voluntary affirmative action.

Still, such programs can still be “defensible in limited circumstances” if they’re meant to remedy past discrimination and supported by a documented imbalance or barrier, as well as if they’re designed to avoid quotas or “undue harm” to others.

Read the overview.

— Gov. Tony Evers sent a letter criticizing Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling’s threats to cut funding for Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance program meant to prevent fraud and waste.

Evers cited June 17 and July 6 letters in which Sonderling warned he would withhold funding if Wisconsin and other states fail to adopt new UI standards set by the Trump administration. Evers wrote the standards are set using misleading data to “make it easier to falsely accuse states of failing to prevent widespread fraud and protect taxpayer dollars.”

Evers has sent four letters to the Trump administration requesting “critical” funding for Wisconsin’s unemployment insurance system after President Trump ended the funding without notice in 2025. In the letter, Evers says the funding was intended to modernize the unemployment program.

“The Trump administration is continuing to illegally withhold $29 million from Wisconsin that we should be using to help finish modernizing our UI systems and improve technology to help detect and prevent fraud,” Evers wrote.

See the release.

See the letter.

— Marshfield Medical Center-Beaver Dam is set to join UW Health under a new agreement with the health system.

While yesterday’s release touts a “definitive agreement” for the move, the framework for transitioning services is still being developed, according to the release. About 425 employees will join UW Health once the process is finalized.

Dr. Brian Hoerneman, president and CEO of Marshfield Clinic, says “we’re committed to ensuring a seamless experience for patients, providers and staff” during this period of transition.

While patients will keep receiving care at the Beaver Dam campus in the meantime, an official closing is expected before the end of the year. After that point, UW Health says it will begin “phased integration efforts” to expand specialty services at the site and ramp up recruitment there.

UW Health says patients in the region will benefit from expanded access to coordinated care and specialty services through its health system.

The medical campus in Beaver Dam includes a hospital as well as a skilled nursing facility and independent senior living. It also operates two assisted living facilities and primary care clinics in Columbus, Horicon and Waupun.

While more work remains, UW Health Chief Strategy Officer Carey Gehl says the agreement represents an important milestone.

“We are committed to helping patients receive care as close to home as possible while also creating additional access points to meet the growing demand across UW Health,” Gehl said in the announcement.

See the release.

— GOP state Rep. Robert Wittke says lawmakers are seeking answers from the Department of Health Services over a proposed change to IRIS, the state’s Medicaid-funded long-term care program.

“The only thing I can say is that they may have put the brakes on a little bit based on some of the outside things that they see with the lawsuits in New York,” Wittke told “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “The biggest question that we have wanted to ascertain is why go to a single payer? There’s nothing in this document that we’ve received that tells us why.”

Wittke and State Sen. Eric Wimberger, co-chairs of the Legislative Audit Committee, sent a letter to DHS officials requesting documents and answers to a list of questions after the company initially selected to manage the program was sued by the U.S. Department of Justice in New York.

“Once this lawsuit came up, we got very concerned, mainly because we’re concerned with the people it serves,” Wittke said.

Earlier this year, DHS announced its notice of intent to select Public Partnerships LLC as the new vendor to handle finances and paperwork for the state’s IRIS program, consolidating the program from multiple vendors to one.

Since then, the U.S. DOJ sued PPL and the New York Health Department over accusations of Medicaid fraud and accused the state of failing to police the company. The company has also faced a bipartisan firestorm of criticism from state lawmakers over how it was chosen and the company’s rollout in New York.

“One of the things I would like to see is the brakes put on,” Wittke said. “No contract executed. Questions answered. And then go through if you have to and redo the process that’s more transparent to people and move forward that way.”

The state’s transition to PPL is now on pause while DHS reviews formal protests that have been filed with the state.

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Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from the latest WisBusiness column by manufacturing expert Buckley Brinkman.

— AI has been on an incredible roll — and we’ve all benefited. The technology clears mundane tasks from our desks, creates opportunities for our manufacturers, and adds one to two percentage points to our economic growth.

Investors have backed these ventures with hundreds of billions of dollars. It’s a terrific time to be engaged with AI. But three recent data points suggest that this roll is hitting a wall.

Read the full column by Buckley Brinkman here.

Find more columns from Brinkman at the AI in Wisconsin page.

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