Many who work in the federal government knew that the incoming Trump administration would aim for diversity, equity and inclusion within its ranks. It was just a matter of when and how far he would go.
For most employees, it happened at 5 p.m. Wednesday, when they received notice that they would be forced to take paid leave, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The memo followed President Donald Trump’s executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies.
“I’m mad,” said one federal employee who has been placed on leave from the agency where he has worked for more than two decades. He requested anonymity for fear of being unable to find a future job in the government.
“I’ve put 23 years of blood, sweat and tears into this agency,” he said.
In Monday’s inaugural address, Trump promised to end “government policies that attempt to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life” and a society that should be established which is “colour blind” and “merit based”. His executive order is an end to the rhetoric and promises of Trump and his advisers, as well as an extension of previous measures taken in his first term to erase diversity initiatives.
The OPM memo also set another deadline: Jan. 31, when federal agencies must submit a written plan to lay off employees placed on paid leave.
The employee who was laid off after 23 years He said he had been a DEI consultant for his agency for two years until December, when his office was dismissed in anticipation of Trump administration policies. While he’s currently receiving a salary and benefits, he worries he won’t be able to pay his bills if he loses his job, wiping out a career he considers a “core part” of his life. will be given.
“I was a little gay boy in the South. “I haven’t felt homeless and different and controversial and comfortable in my own home or in my own skin for many years,” he said. To improve areas for people who do not enjoy privilege in these areas.
‘We have become pawns’
A woman of color who is also a federal worker laid off this week said she was preparing well before Election Day to lose her job. He also requested anonymity for fear of retaliation.
In June, the federal employee began buying clothes for her children in larger sizes, anticipating that they wouldn’t be able to afford new ones as they grew. He said that there were very few gifts under the Christmas tree last month.
“It’s hard,” he said. “You decide not to target your kids so they don’t ask you for a bunch of things you can’t handle, because you try to plan for whatever happens. have been.”
Despite their preparations, the woman said she was still surprised and upset by how quickly Trump’s order was implemented. Why didn’t his superiors tell him when he received the news of the leave?
When you decide to become a civil servant, your goal is to help the American people. And anyone in this line of work knows that the goal is always to help all people. “It’s disappointing that we’ve become pawns in this grab for control. But, once again, the American people voted.
A person who leads an LGBTQ employee resource group at a cabinet-level agency, and who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said his group Helped the agency develop an internal policy for employees who transition between genders. These policies included protocols on how to change a trans employee’s internal records to accurately reflect their new gender identity and name. As of Wednesday evening, the once-public policy was no longer available on the agency’s website.
“So now an employee going through a transition has to figure out the whole process themselves — they’re reinventing the wheel for each individual,” he said. “Without a policy, it puts all the burden on the employee to necessarily try to figure it out.”
The person added that since Trump’s re-election in November, many LGBTQ workers at the federal agency have told him they plan to return to the closet on the job. He said many people have said, “My plan is to be invisible for the next four years.”
Memos and executive order restorations have expanded throughout the federal government. The Wilson Center, a Washington think tank overseen by trustees appointed by the president, sent a letter to employees closing all diversity, equity, inclusion and access offices and related contracts. Citing the order, the letter said the programs “divided Americans along racial lines, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.”
Trump issued a separate order Directing the Federal Aviation Administration To end the DEI’s efforts. Accompanying fact sheet Trump’s actions have been reported to have led to the hiring of people with “severe intellectual” disabilities, psychiatric issues and total paralysis. “He further ordered performance reviews of all FAA employees.
Trump also rolled back a 1965 order signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson that prohibited discrimination in hiring by federal contractors.
Trump and his allies have called DEI programs discriminatory.
“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 the color of their skin. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions and creeds,” White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt said.
Many civil rights and diversity laws and programs were implemented because, for decades, very few people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans obtained tax-supported jobs.
In 2023, federal workers still made up the majority at 59.5% and men outnumbered women 55% to 45%. Contribution to public servicea group focused on attracting talented people to the federal workforce and improving the way government works. The analysis found that white workers hold the highest percentage of senior executive-level positions, compared to 26% held by people of color.
In the United States today, 58.4% of the population is non-Hispanic white and 50.5% is female.
Ramiro Quezos is the president and CEO of the American Hispanic Chamber, which has worked to increase the number of Hispanics and Latinos in political roles and in the federal government.
Cuzos dismissed the orders as political messaging. He questioned whether Trump’s orders would have too much power when they were up against the realities of workforce demographics. There are Hispanics the fastest– fromA growing activist groupaccording to Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“We’re the only workforce that’s out there,” he said. “At the end of the day, they know where the workforce is going to come from.”
‘There’s a lot of fear’
The consequences of Trump’s executive orders were being felt even among those workers not placed on paid leave.
“There’s a lot of fear right now,” said one federal worker who did not want to be named to protect the worker’s job. Some employees have stopped participating in messaging apps or email threads that connect workers of similar racial or ethnic backgrounds, the activist said.
“It feels like we’re in Cuba,” said the worker, whose job was not terminated but whose duties include providing minority communities with access to resources.
The activist said colleagues are concerned about using social media or their phones, even in person, for fear they are being monitored or tapped.
One person who works at a federal agency, and who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, said his team assembled leadership training in response to the new orders. has been done This training was designed to teach managers how to work with multidisciplinary staff.
“Everybody has to fall completely in line. There is no real room for disagreement. “It’s going to be a long year.”
The OPM memo also directed agency and department heads to provide lists of DE offices in their divisions and their employees. An email was sent to all federal workers threatening “negative consequences” if they failed to report colleagues whose DEI duties had been obscured or disguised.
The more than two-decade federal employee who became a DEI consultant was transferred to the Office of Civil Rights in December. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, he was notified in an email that he would be placed on leave with benefits immediately, that his email would be suspended and that he would receive updates when they were available. .
He said the DI was being used as a “convenient scapegoat for further politics of grievance”.
“The way Dia is talked about and used as some kind of bogeyman in conservative politics is on its face a complete misrepresentation of what Dia stands for, what we do. , how much the workforce benefits from these programs, not just minority communities, but for everyone,” the activist said.
“DEI policies benefit everyone. A rising tide lifted all boats.
Former President Joe Biden promoted diversity, equity and inclusion during his administration and addressed it in executive orders.
In the 2023 order, it required each government agency to form a DEI team and mandated an oversight committee to oversee the work of the DEI. Trump What is recovery? That and other orders.
Jesus Soriano, president of American Federal Government Employees Local 3403 and a federal worker, noted that pay across genders, races and other groups in the federal workforce is lower than in the private sector. “We are qualified to render professional services to the government under oath of office, regardless of what we look like,” he said.
He said the government still has a lot of work to do to ensure the workforce is representative of the people it serves.
“This is another way for President Trump to undermine the merit-based civil service and then turn hiring and firing decisions into tests of loyalty,” Soriano said.
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