President Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, January 20, 2025.
Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
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Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
Over the past four years, the federal government has embraced the idea that a more diverse and inclusive workforce would better serve the American people.
Today, with the stroke of a pen, President Trump abruptly reversed course.
On Monday, Trump issued an executive order ending “illegal DEI and “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities, regardless of what name they appear under.
A second executive order issued Tuesday revokes many executive actions from past administrations, including some that had been in place for decades. One issued by former President Bill Clinton required federal agencies to address environmental justice for low-income and minority populations. Another signed by former President Lyndon B. Johnson required government contractors to adopt nondiscriminatory hiring and employment practices.
Even as Trump’s critics denounce these measures, federal agencies are getting to work making his vision a reality.
Agencies ordered to put DEIA employees on paid leave
Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Charles Ezell sent a memo to agency leaders on Tuesday directing them to place all DEIA office employees on paid administrative leave no later than Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Agencies were also asked to send agency-wide notices “asking employees if they are aware of attempts to conceal these programs by using coded or imprecise language.” OPM provided a template for these notices that included an email address for reporting such efforts and a warning that failure to do so could result in “adverse consequences.”
Additionally, agencies were asked to take down websites and social media accounts, cancel training, and fire all contractors related to DEIA’s work.
By noon Thursday, agencies must submit to OPM a complete list of DEIA offices and anyone working in those offices as of November 5, 2024, the date of the presidential election.
Agencies are required to submit a written plan by Jan. 31 for layoffs of individuals working in DEIA offices, the memo said.
It was not immediately clear how many federal employees will be laid off.
“Given the scale of the phenomenon, this is potentially a very large number of people,” says Rob Shriver, acting head of OPM under former President Joe Biden.
Shriver, who is now executive director of Civil Service Strong at the legal advocacy group Democracy Forward, sees the move as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to marginalize career employees in favor of political loyalists .
Under Biden, a massive intensification of the work of the DEIA
In fact, DEIA programs exist across the federal government due to a series of executive actions taken by Biden.
His administration has called on federal agencies to recruit more candidates from underserved communities, conduct training programs that advance principles of equity and inclusion, and address wage inequality, among other measures. Agencies created new positions to oversee the work.
Longtime DEIA consultant Alaysia Black Hackett, who served as chief diversity and equity officer at the Department of Labor, says a common misconception is that labor is all about race.
“A lot of what we did at DEIA, particularly at the Department of Labor, was to make sure we were creating pathways to good-paying jobs,” she says. “Our strategy was to build an economy for all workers.”
Sometimes the work involved determining which communities could benefit from more training or learning opportunities. Other times, it involved simplifying government documents to ensure that Southern farm workers fully understood their rights, were paid properly, and received adequate respites.
“It’s not just something we do morally, but it actually contributes to the economic prosperity of our country,” Hackett says.
Before serving in the federal government, Hackett led diversity and inclusion work in the office of former Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. Both of these experiences reinforced his belief that government should reflect the country that America is today.
“When you think about those who were in the room when the Constitution of the United States of America was created, there was one point of view, one lens, that of white men,” she says.
Expose themselves to sanctions for faithfully doing their job
Hackett, a political appointee, left her post at the end of the Biden administration. She estimates that between a few dozen and more than a hundred employees still at the Department of Labor could be affected by Trump’s executive order.
Max Stier, president and CEO of the Public Service Partnership, condemned the developments unfolding this week.
“Penalizing career public servants for faithfully doing their jobs under a previous administration is wrong,” he wrote in a statement. “The employees affected are ordinary people who must support themselves and their families, and the abrupt and rushed approach chosen here will have a traumatic impact not only on them but also on their colleagues who remain in their role at the service of the public.”
