The Trump administration is ordering furloughs for all federal diversity, equity and inclusion employees

US President Donald Trump’s administration moved to end affirmative action in federal contracts on Tuesday, ordering all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees to be placed on paid leave and eventually fired.

The actions are carried out according to the order of the executive power Trump signed on his first day to order the sweeping elimination of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs, which could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners. Trump called the programs “discriminatory” and insisted on strictly restoring “merit-based” hiring.

The affirmative action executive order revokes an executive order issued by U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and limits DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients.

He is using one of the main tools the Biden administration used to promote DEI programs in the private sector — encouraging their use by federal contractors — to now eliminate them.

Office of Personnel Management in memories of Tuesday ordered agencies to place DEI office staff on paid leave by 5:00 p.m. Wednesday and to take down all public web pages directed at DEI by the same deadline. Several federal departments had taken down web pages before the memo.

Agencies must also cancel any DEI-related training and terminate any related contracts, and federal employees are asked to notify Trump’s Office of Personnel Management within 10 days if they suspect any DEI-related program has been renamed to mislead. causes negative consequences”.

By Thursday, federal agencies were ordered to compile a list of federal DEI offices and staff by Election Day. By next Friday, they are expected to come up with a plan to implement “retrenchment measures” against those federal workers.

CBS News first reported on the note.

Movement comes later Executive order on Monday Former US President Joe Biden accused him of forcing “discriminatory” programs on “virtually every aspect of the federal government” through the “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs known as DEI.

The move is the first in an aggressive campaign to boost DEI efforts nationwide, including using the U.S. Department of Justice and other agencies to investigate private companies that engage in training and hiring practices that conservative critics say discriminate against non-minority groups, such as white men. is a blow.

Aggressive campaign

The executive order picks up where Trump’s first administration left off: One of Trump’s final acts in his first term was an order barring federal agency contractors and recipients of federal funding from conducting anti-bias training that covers concepts such as systemic racism.

On his first day in office, Biden promptly rescinded that order and issued a pair of executive orders — now revoked — outlining a plan to promote DEI within the federal government.

While many changes may take months or even years to implement, Trump’s new anti-DEI agenda is more aggressive than the first and comes amid more favorable terrain in the corporate world.

Prominent companies from Walmart to Facebook have already scaled back or suspended some of their diversity practices in response to Trump’s election and conservative-backed lawsuits against them.