White House orders government DEI employees to be placed on leave

Employees in any federal diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices will be placed on paid administrative leave “effective immediately,” according to a post from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Slashing jobs in federal DEI positions is one move in a series of actions taken by the new administration, after Donald Trump promised to wage a war against such programs and take on the practice on Day 1. Trump has already cut high-profile military personnel and ended the use of DEI in hiring and federal contracting. Some major companies have taken similar measures as they face pressure from conservative critics and customers.

A memo issued by the US Office of Personnel Management on Tuesday instructed agencies to notify DEI staffers “no later than 5:00pm EST on Wednesday” that they were being placed on administrative leave effective immediately as “the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.”

The memo also directs agencies to remove the offices’ websites and social media accounts and to cancel any DEI-related trainings.

CBS News first reported the memo.

The move comes just one day after Trump signed an executive order banning DEI programs. On a briefing call with reporters Monday, an official pledged the executive order would “dismantle the DEI bureaucracy, and this includes environmental justice programs, equity related grants, equity action plan, equity initiatives.”

The White House also released a fact sheet Tuesday for an order ending the use of DEI in federal contracting and “directing federal agencies to relentlessly combat private sector discrimination.”

The order directs the Office of Management and Budget “to streamline the federal contracting process to enhance speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require Federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil rights laws” and “bars the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs from pushing contractors to balance their workforce based on race, sex, gender identity, sexual preference, or religion,” according to the fact sheet.

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