White House orders DEI public employees on furlough

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

The job cuts in federal DEI positions are one step in a series of moves by the new administration after Donald Trump vowed to wage war on 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 contracts. Some larger 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 directed agencies to notify DEI employees “no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on Wednesday” that they were placed on administrative leave, effective immediately, as “the agency takes steps to close/terminate all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.”

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

CBS News first reported the memo.

The move comes just one day after Trump signed one announcement ban on DEI programs. On a briefing call with reporters Monday, an official promised 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 that stops the use of DEI in federal contracts and “directs federal agencies to relentlessly combat discrimination in the private sector.”

The order directs the Office of Management and Budget “to streamline the federal contracting process to increase speed and efficiency, reduce costs, and require federal contractors and subcontractors to comply with our civil rights laws” and “precludes 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.

President Joe Biden expanded the government’s DEI protections in the workplace by signing a series of executive orders that extended them to a broader group of Americans, from pregnant people and military spouses to rural communities and caregivers.

Critics say DEI programs are discriminatory and attempt to address racial discrimination by favoring other groups, especially white Americans. But supporters and industry experts insist the decades-old practice has become politicized and is widely misunderstood.

The programs have also been in the crosshairs of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency, which he has made tech billionaire Elon Musk head.

Examples of programs involving DEI in major federal agencies include the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion, and the Department of Defense’s Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity Policy.

CNN previously analyzed the proposed budgets for 20 federal agencies. While each noted diversity initiatives in FY 2024 and FY 2025 budget requests, not all explicitly specified DEI spending.

Some federal departments have entire offices dedicated to DEI, such as those at DOD and HHS. There are also cross-department programs that include money for things like minority-owned business development, as well as diversity recruitment and training efforts.

The Trump administration’s attack on DEI is likely to face legal challenges. CNN has previously reported that hundreds of civil rights and advocacy groups are preparing for the numerous legal battles that would come from Republican efforts to dismantle the DEI, and the American Civil Liberties Union told CNN last month that it is carefully reviewing all public statements from DOGE, the incoming Trump administration, as well as commentary on the campaign trail.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Jack Forrest, Rene Marsh and Pamela Brown contributed to this report.