President Donald Trump was serious about his campaign promise to remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs from the federal government. So serious that his administration told employees that they were out as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
In a memorandum first reported by CBS News, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said that all offices and agency sub-units “focusing exclusively on DEIA [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility] initiatives and programs,” would be closed by that time. Trump transition team spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed the memo in an X post.
“We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language,” said the memo. It instructed staff to send an agency-wide notice to employees asking employees if they know of any such efforts.
Additionally, it told staff to send a notification to all employees of DEIA offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately. This is a step towards the goal of closing and ending all DEIA initiatives and programs.
Another step outlined in the memo was the removal of all outward facing media, including websites and social media accounts of DEIA offices. Further steps mentioned in the memo are the withdrawal of “any pending documents, directives, orders, materials and equity plans issued by the agency in response to now-repealed Executive Order 14035,” as well as to cancel any DEIA-related trainings, and terminate any DEIA-related contractors.
Beyond the Wednesday deadline, the memo also outlined more expectations to be met by noon Thursday. These include submitting a complete list of DEIA offices and any employees in those offices as of Nov. 5, 2024 and submitting a complete list of all DEIA-related agency contracts as of Nov. 5, 2024.
By Jan. 31 at 5 p.m., employees are also required to submit a written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding the employees who work in a DEIA office and a list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, of last year “to obscure their connection to DEIA programs.”
“There will be no consequences for timely reporting this information. However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences,” the memo warned.
When former President Joe Biden was in office, he signed the “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce” executive order. It established a policy to cultivate a workforce “that draws from the full diversity of the Nation.”
Trump has been critical of the Biden administration’s approach to diversity programs, including that order.
“The previous administration has embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal, and radical practices within every agency and office of the Federal Government,” said the president in an executive order covering a variety of topics issued Monday, the same day he was sworn into office. “The injection of ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) into our institutions has corrupted them by replacing hard work, merit, and equality with a divisive and dangerous preferential hierarchy.”
Trump has also issued an executive order specifically targeted at DEI programs. In it, he said: “The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military.”
In another executive order issued the following day, Trump said that he acknowledges his duty to enforce “longstanding Federal civil-rights laws protect individual Americans from discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin,” and said that those protections “serve as a bedrock supporting equality of opportunity for all Americans.”
The Trump administration said in a Fact Sheet that the previous administration engaged in “radical DEI preferencing” and that now the federal government will “combat private sector discrimination.”
“Federal hiring, promotions, and performance reviews will reward individual initiative, skills, performance, and hard work and not, under any circumstances, DEI-related factors, goals, policies, mandates, or requirements,” the Fact Sheet said.
According to the memorandum from the Office of Personnel Management, employees will continue to receive full pay and benefits during their administrative leave period. They will not be expected to perform work related tasks or be required to come to the office and their email addresses are to be suspended.
CNN reported that the new administration’s moves regarding DEI are expected to be met with legal challenges. It said that “hundreds of civil rights and advocacy groups are preparing for the numerous legal fights.”