Trump Orders Agencies to Close DEI Offices, Place Staff on Leave
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that the federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) memo alerting agencies to close their DEI offices and place staff on leave is real.
By 5PM ET today, the agencies must:
- Send an agency-wide notice to employees informing them of the closure and asking employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language
- Send a notification to all employees of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.
- Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices
- Withdraw any final or pending documents, directives, orders, materials and equity plans issued by the agency in response to the now-repealed Executive Order 14035, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce (June 25, 2021)
- Cancel any DEIA-related trainings and terminate any DEIA-related contractors
By mid-Thursday, the heads of the agencies have to give OPM a list of the employees and offices, DEI-related agency contracts, and explain how the agency will comply with President Donald Trump executive order.
The agencies have until the end of the month to give OPM their plan “for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding” the DEI employees and provide “a list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since November 5, 2024 to obscure their connection to” DEI programs.
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