The Trump administration ordered Tuesday that all federal employees working on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives be placed on paid leave as government agencies work to close DEI offices.
The Office of Personnel Management — the government’s top human resources agency — informed federal department heads in a memo that DEI program employees must be notified by 5 p.m. Wednesday that their administrative leave takes “effective immediately.”
The memo further directs federal agencies to remove all “outward-facing media” – such as web pages and social media accounts – focused on DEI programs, cancel all employee diversity training and to terminate any contract linked to the DEI within the same period.
OPM also asked agency heads to ask “employees whether they are aware of efforts to obscure” DEI programs with “coded or unclear language” and to report their findings on attempts to obscure initiatives by January 31.
Employees who fail to report DEI programs that may have been renamed to circumvent the Trump administration’s widely expected decision to gut diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives could face ‘adverse consequences,’ warns the OPM.
By the end of the month, OPM also wants “a written plan” from all federal agencies on how they will execute “a workforce reduction action regarding employees who work in a DEIA office “.
The missive was sent in response to President Trump’s first executive order directing federal agencies to dismantle “unlawful and immoral discrimination programs” promoted by the Biden administration.
Trump’s order calls DEI programs, which were rolled out across government by the Biden administration to promote racial and environmental “justice,” discriminatory and a “vast public waste.”
OPM’s DEI memo was released the same day the White House announced the president would direct the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration to “immediately return to nondiscriminatory, merit-based hiring.”
In a statement, Trump argued that his action to “keep Americans safe in aviation” will ensure that all FAA employees will have “the ability to perform their jobs to the highest standards of excellence possible.”
Trump accused the FAA, under the Biden administration, of “betraying its mission by prioritizing dangerous discrimination over excellence” and of “specifically seeking to recruit and hire individuals with serious disabilities who may have an impact on the execution of their essential tasks to save lives”.
“The Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administrator shall review the past performance and performance standards of all persons occupying safety-critical positions and take all appropriate measures to ensure that any person who fails not or failed to demonstrate the required capabilities is replaced by a high-level individual capable of ensuring top-notch aviation safety and efficiency,” the President said.
The private sector is already withdrawing from DEI programs in response to the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which addressed the use of race in college admissions decisions.
Tech giants Meta and Amazon, for example, recently decided to abandon DEI initiatives.
McDonald’s, Walmart, Ford Motor Company, Molson Coors, Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Forman, Boeing and Harley Davidson have also reduced their focus on DEI.
