According to a recent document from the Office of Personnel Management, the Trump administration is directing that all federal employees who work in diversity, equity, and inclusion roles be placed on paid leave by Wednesday night.
The chiefs of departments and agencies received the message on Tuesday, with a deadline of 5 p.m. ET on Wednesday to notify the staff that they will be placed on paid administrative leave as the agencies get ready to shut down all DEI-related programs and offices, as well as delete all of their websites and social media accounts.
Additionally, it requests that federal agencies provide a detailed plan for employee termination by January 31.
President Donald Trumpsigned an executive orderMondayending radical and wasteful diversity, equity and inclusion programsin federal agencies, with DEI offices and programs being ordered to shut down.
President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Tuesday night. For Americans of all races, faiths, and creeds, this is just another victory. Promises made, promises kept.
The number of employees who will be impacted was unclear. A request for comment was not immediately answered by the White House.
Trump signed46 executive orders and presidential actionsMonday that addressed a number of campaign pledges, including endingBiden-era border policiesandpardoning the Jan. 6 Capitol rioters.
He signed an executive order on Tuesday that targeted the Federal Aviation Administration’s diverse hiring procedures, claiming that such initiatives disadvantaged hard-working Americans who wish to work for the FAA but are unable to do so because they do not meet the necessary skin color or disability requirements.
Trump’s actions in the first few days of his second term build on the work he did in the latter part of his first term. In 2020, hesigned an executive orderprohibiting federal DEI programs. In response, immediately after taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden signed legislation to strengthen racial equality.