President Trump Fires DEIA Workers, Agencies Urged to Start Layoffs Now

A week after President Trump issued an executive order terminating all Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility programs (DEIA), programs, mandates, policies, preferences and activities, some agencies are putting DEIA employees on leave, as layoffs preparations start.

In a new memo, Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Acting Director Charles Ezell told agencies they should starting sending layoff notices to workers “now,” even though they were given until the end of January to share DEIA workforce reduction plans.

“Agencies can and should begin issuing RIF (reductions in force) notices to employees of DEIA offices now. Agencies are reminded to define the competitive area solely in terms of the DEIA office where the employees worked,” stated the memo.

Meanwhile, GovExec reports that OPM has received lists of lists of relevant employees from some agencies and is passing that data along to the White House.

DEIA Employees Already Being Placed on Leave

Agencies already putting DEIA employees on leave include the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), which put 60 employees on administrative leave, and the Department of the Interior. The VA employees were collectively making about $8 million a year, prompting this comment from VA spokesperson Morgan Ackley.

“We look forward to reallocating the millions of dollars the department was spending on DEI programs and personnel to better serve the men and women who have bravely served our nation,” said Ackley.

Meanwhile, over at the Department of the Interior, a spokesperson said that the department is “expeditiously executing the president’s executive order.”

Agencies were also ordered to deliver lists of new hires to OPM. Since these hires are still in their probationary period, they are not subject to the same civil service protections and could be fired en masse by the Trump Administration. 

Keep in mind too that contractors are also subject to the EO and are being told not to consider race, color, sex, religion or national origin in their employment and procurement practices.

Contractors and federal employees are also encouraged to blow the whistle on DEIA activities that violate the President’s order.

FAA Hiring Targeted

In another presidential action, called “Keeping Americans Safe in Aviation,” the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was ordered to immediately return to merit-based hiring. The action says the “FAA betrayed its mission by elevating dangerous discrimination over excellence” and that the Biden Administration was recruiting individuals with “serious infirmities that could impact the execution of their essential life-saving duties.

However, GovExec points out that during the first Trump Administration, the FAA was encouraged to undertake similar efforts to hire workers with disabilities.

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