Trump Halts Federal Probe into BAE Systems Workplace Abuse

In early 2025, federal investigators were concluding a two-year Labor Department inquiry into systemic sexual harassment and discrimination at BAE Systems, a contractor that supplies weapons, vehicles and cybersecurity tools to the Pentagon. The probe uncovered that male managers at the Norfolk, Va., Navy shipyard had demanded oral sex and other sexual contact from female employees in exchange for promotions and overtime, and that Black women received lower pay and fewer promotions than their male counterparts. The government was preparing a settlement that would require BAE to pay seven-figure sums to affected workers and adopt workplace reforms, or risk losing roughly $8 billion in annual federal contracts. On January 21, 2026—the day after President Donald Trump’s inauguration—he issued an executive order directing the Labor Department office conducting the investigation to cease most of its work, effectively ending the inquiry.

New York Times

The investigation formed part of a broader federal effort to enforce workplace equity at defense contractors. Trump’s executive order simultaneously ordered a purge of “diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” which he argued had created a “pernicious identity-based spoils system” that undermined merit-based achievement.

New York Times

President Trump framed the order as a correction of what he described as identity-based favoritism in federal programs. The Labor Department complied by halting the BAE investigation, signaling a shift in enforcement priorities under the new administration.

New York Times

Former senior investigator Sam Maiden, who led the BAE case, expressed frustration that the team could not contact the workers after the shutdown. He said the investigators were “stunned” and “so angry that they wouldn’t get the remedy that should have come to them.” Critics argue the abrupt termination deprives victims of accountability and jeopardizes the integrity of federal contracts.

New York Times

• “I wasn’t even allowed to contact the workers,” — Sam Maiden, former lead investigator, Labor Department

New York Times

• “We were so angry that they wouldn’t get the remedy that should have come to them.” — Sam Maiden

New York Times

• “pernicious identity-based spoils system.” — President Donald Trump, executive order statement

New York Times