Headline Roundup • January 22nd, 2025
Trump Directs Government DEI Employees to be Placed on Leave
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump directed all government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) office employees to be placed on leave.
Key Details: The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has instructed federal agencies to notify DEI staff by Wednesday evening that they were being placed on paid administrative leave as “the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.” The agencies were also directed to provide a complete list to OPM of all DEI offices and employees and DEi-related contracts as of November 5, 2024. Social media accounts and websites for these offices were also ordered to be deleted.
Key Quote: “President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
For Context: Trump's Executive Order revokes decades of affirmative action and diversity practices in the federal government.
How the Media Covered it: Supporters of DEI practices highlight opinions that the programs have been widely misunderstood, while critics focus on arguments that DEI programs aim to solve racial discrimination by disadvantaging other groups.
Featured Coverage of this Story
CNN Digital
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...
President Trump has directed that all employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles be put on paid leave, a memo from the Office of Personnel Management shows Tuesday.
The memo, sent to heads of departments and agencies, gives a 5 p.m. Wednesday deadline to let the employees know they are being placed on administrative leave while all DEI related offices prepare to be closed down.
It also instructs for all websites and social media accounts associated with those offices to be deleted. It called for all DEI trainings to be canceled and for all...
The Trump administration is ordering all federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles placed on paid leave by Wednesday evening, according to a new memo from the Office of Personnel Management.
The memo, issued Tuesday to heads of departments and agencies, sets a deadline of no later than 5 p.m. ET Wednesday to inform the employees that they will be put on paid administrative leave as the agencies prepare to close all DEI-related offices and programs and to remove all websites and social media accounts for such offices.
It...
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