The Trump administration is accelerating its timeline for laying off federal employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles.
In a memo Friday, the acting head of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management said agency heads “will take steps to terminate, to the fullest extent permitted by law, all offices and positions of DEI, DEIA and ‘environmental justice’ within sixty days.”
It is not yet clear how many workers would be affected. The White House has not provided detailed estimates. Layoff efforts could also be hampered by job protections for many career government employees.
The directive accelerates previous plans by the administration that had asked government agencies to submit written plans by Jan. 31 to lay off workers at some point in the future.
The updated guidance says agencies “can and should” begin issuing layoff notices “to DEIA office employees now.” An order issued Tuesday called on department heads to inform all on-duty DEI workers that they would be placed on paid leave the next day.
NBC News reported this week that federal employees had received emails warning that they could face “adverse consequences” if they do not notify the Office of Personnel Management about efforts to “hide” DEI initiatives.
The memos follow President Donald Trump’s signing Monday of an executive order ending what he called “radical and wasteful” DEI diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies, and orders offices and programs to close. of DEI.
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Trump also this week revoked a decades-old executive order banning discrimination. by federal contractors.
During his inaugural address on Monday, Trump framed his crackdown on diversity initiatives as a measure to “end the government’s policy of attempting to socially mainstream race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”
In an effort to implement Trump’s directives, government agencies have also begun removing mentions of diversity from their websites.
The Department of Homeland Security labeled a web page focused on “inclusive diversity” and cultivating an inclusive workplace as “archived content.”
The Department of Education announced Thursday that it had disbanded DEI-focused councils, placed career department staff responsible for implementing DEI initiatives on paid administrative leave, and removed or archived hundreds of materials containing DEI resources.
DEI pages for the Department of State, Department of Labor, and Department of Commerce were also removed.
The National Gallery of Art, which receives federal funding, said Friday it had closed an office dedicated to belonging and inclusion in response to Trump’s crackdown.
