Chuck Ezell, Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has issued guidance in response to President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13985 removing DEI policies from the federal government.
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OBTAINED FIRST BY @cbsnews’ @kristincbrown: All federal employees in DEI roles have to be placed on paid leave by 5pm Wednesday as those offices and programs are being ordered shut down, according to @USOPM memo. pic.twitter.com/PhTn4QrQqB
— Ed O’Keefe (@edokeefe) January 22, 2025
President Donald Trump’s administration moved Tuesday to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off.
The memorandum reads, in part:
In light of the above Executive Orders, each should take prompt actions regarding the offices and agency sub-units focusing exclusively on DEIA initiatives and programs (the “DEIA offices”). Specifically, agency heads should take the following steps:
1. No later than 5:00 pm EST on Wednesday, January 22, 2025
a. 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 a template agency-wide notice is attached as Appendix 1.
b. Send a notification to all employees of 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. A template employee letter is attached as Appendix 2.
c. Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices.
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In a footnote to the memorandum, it references instructions on how DEIA department employees should be placed on administrative leave, which is generally the first step in culling the herd. Civil servants are notoriously difficult to fire. With this paid leave, the most committed ideologues will quietly tender their resignations, while those not so committed will potentially be open to reassignment.
The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by President Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It’s using one of the key tools utilized by the Biden administration to promote DEI programs across the private sector — pushing their use by federal contractors — to now eradicate them.
In the memo’s final directives, department heads are further instructed to supply a written plan on how they will reduce their workforce, as well as disclosure of any position titles that were changed or obscured to disguise their connection to DEI initiatives.
RELATED: Anticipated Trump Executive Orders on DEI, Gender Embrace ‘Return to Sanity,’ Common Sense
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One expects this tectonic shift to reverberate through all the government agencies. Brendan Carr, Chairman of the FCC quickly fell in line with Trump’s directive.
Yesterday, President Trump issued an Executive Order to end the government’s promotion of DEI.
Today, as Chairman of the FCC, I am ending the FCC’s promotion of DEI and will focus our work on competently carrying out the FCC’s statutory mission. pic.twitter.com/jH8uhpdz12
— Brendan Carr (@BrendanCarrFCC) January 21, 2025
