President Donald Trump has ordered that all US government staff working on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) schemes be put on immediate paid administrative leave.
The White House confirmed that all federal DEI workers had to be put on leave by 17:00 EST (22:00 GMT) on Wednesday, before the offices and programmes in question were shut down.
In an executive order issued on Tuesday, Trump also called for an end to the “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” programmes.
Since re-taking office on Monday, the president has acted swiftly on a number of key pledges through a raft of unilateral actions. He repeatedly attacked DEI practices on the campaign trail, arguing that they were discriminatory.
DEI programmes aim to promote participation in workplaces by people from a range of backgrounds.
Their backers say they address historical underrepresentation and discrimination against certain groups including racial minorities, but critics say such programmes can themselves be discriminatory.
In his inaugural address, Trump pledged to “forge a society that is colour-blind and merit-based”.
A memo, first seen by CBS, the BBC’s US partner, was sent from the US Office of Personnel Management to the heads of government agencies on Tuesday, instructing them to place DEI employees on leave.
It also made a number of requests, including the removal of public websites for DEI offices.
By Thursday, federal agencies must compile a list of DEI offices and workers. By 31 January, agencies must submit “a written plan” for executing lay-offs in DEI offices.
Trump’s executive order, meanwhile, took aim at what it called the “illegal” policies of DEI and DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility), framing them as being in opposition to US law.
It said these policies had the capability to “violate” important underlying civil rights laws that protect Americans from discrimination.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the move “is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds”, and fulfils a campaign promise made by Trump.
The executive order requires federal hiring, promotions and performance reviews “reward individual initiative” rather than “DEI-related factors”.
It revokes a 1965 executive order signed by former President Lyndon B Johnson that makes it illegal for federal contractors to discriminate on the basis of “race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or national origin” in their hiring.
The order also requires the attorney general to submit, within 120 days, recommendations “to encourage the private sector” to end similar diversity efforts.
The American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 800,000 federal workers, said that diversity programs had reduced gender and racial pay disparities in the federal workforce.
“Undoing these programs is just another way for President Trump to undermine the merit-based civil service and turn federal hiring and firing decisions into loyalty tests,” said AFGE national president Everett Kelley in a statement.
Tuesday’s executive order comes on the heels of another one that pledged to put to an end to programmes deemed “radical and wasteful” by Trump.
That one, signed on Monday, declares that all DEI offices, positions and programmes be terminated within 60 days, “to the maximum extent allowed by law”.
It is unclear how many government employees would be affected by these orders.
Several large US companies have ended or scaled back their DEI programmes in recent weeks, including McDonald’s, Walmart and Facebook parent company Meta.
Others, like Apple and retailers Target and Costco, have publicly defended their DEI programmes.
