WASHINGTON – All federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion positions will be placed on paid administrative leave by the close of business Wednesday, according to a memo from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
The move came as President Donald Trump spent the first days of his second term issuing executive orders that would gut DEI programs and activities across the federal government and end affirmative action in federal contracting.
Trump’s wide-ranging efforts reflect a broader push by Republicans to eliminate programs and hiring practices aimed at enabling fair and inclusive workplaces.
A Tuesday memo by Charles Ezell, Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management, directs federal agency heads to notify DEI office employees that they will be placed on paid administrative leave no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. OPM is the federal agency responsible for human resources and employee management.
Agency leaders are also tasked with canceling all DEI-related training, terminating DEI-related contractors and removing “all external media” from DEI offices by Wednesday evening.
By noon Eastern time Thursday, agency leaders must also notify OPM of “any agency plans to fully comply” with Ezell’s executive orders and memo.
They must also submit a written plan “for implementing a workforce reduction action” or layoffs surrounding DEI office employees by Jan. 31.
In one of the many far-reaching executive orders issued this week, Trump ordered an end on all DEI “assignments, policies, programs, preferences and activities” in the federal government.
The White House called these DEI efforts “radical and wasteful.”
Trump also eliminated all environmental justice positions and offices across the federal government. Environmental justice focuses on improving the health and well-being of disadvantaged communities that are disproportionately affected by environmental harm.
In another major move, he revoked a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives, including a decades-old 1965 executive order from then-President Lyndon B. Johnson on affirmative action in federal contracting.
He also encourages ending DEI efforts across the private sector. Some US companies have already done this rolled back their programs in the last few months.
Reactions from Congress
U.S. Rep. James Comer, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, praised Trump’s executive orders on DEI and a separate federal law Return to office mandate in a opinion Earlier this week, he said, “For too long, the unelected federal bureaucracy has wielded too much power over Americans’ lives and wasted hard-earned taxpayer dollars.”
“Under these executive orders, the federal workforce is expected to personally work for the American people, the federal government must stop wasting money on woke DEI programs, and taxpayer dollars must not be used to fund the censorship industrial complex,” he said the Kentucky Republican added.
Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Pete Aguilar of California said at a news conference on Wednesday: “It is unfortunate that many of the decisions – including those made by Donald Trump on day one – do nothing to address the real problems of the United States “Towards Americans.”
“None of these affect the food price cuts that Donald Trump announced on Day One, and they reduce our ability to hear different ideas and perspectives when making decisions,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar also noted that the House Democratic Caucus “represents the most diverse caucus ever assembled in the history of Congress – from every part of our country, from every background – that is the Democratic Caucus.”
Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke and members of the group said Trump’s order to end all DEI initiatives in the federal government is “not only a broken economic promise” but also “contradicts evidence “which show that diversity initiatives improve the ability of government to better serve our communities,” it said on Wednesday opinion.
“Under the Biden administration, Democrats have worked to prioritize racial justice with a whole-of-government approach,” the New York Democrat and caucus members added. “President Trump’s executive actions undermine that progress and will only make our country less prosperous.”
Last updated at 2:42 p.m., January 22, 2025
