Trump administration directs all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on leave and eventually be laid off.
The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring.
The Office of Personnel Management in a Tuesday memo directed agencies to place DEI office staffers on paid leave by 5 p.m. ET, Wednesday and take down all public DEI-focused web pages by the same deadline. Several federal departments had removed the web pages even before the memorandum.
Agencies must also cancel any DEI-related training and end any related contracts, and federal workers are being asked to report to Trump’s Office of Personnel Management if they suspect any DEI-related program has been renamed to obfuscate its purpose within 10 days or face “adverse consequences.”
By Thursday, federal agencies are directed to compile a list of federal DEI offices and workers as of Election Day. By next Friday, they are expected to develop a plan to execute a “reduction-in-force action” against those federal workers.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/trump-dei-staff-1.7437918
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-orders-federal-diversity-equity-inclusion-employees-placed-paid-rcna188679