Many who work in the federal government know that the incoming Trump administration will be committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion within their ranks. It's just a matter of when and how far he goes.
For most employees, that happened at 5 p.m. Wednesday, when they received notice of their furlough, according to a memo from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The memo comes after President Donald Trump issued an executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs at federal agencies.
"I'm angry," said one federal employee on leave from the agency where he worked for more than two decades. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared he would not be able to find a government job in the future.
"I've invested 23 years of my blood, sweat and tears into this organization," he said.
In his inaugural address on Monday, Trump pledged to end "government policies that seek to socialize race and gender into every aspect of public and private life" and create a "color-blind" and "merit-based" society. His executive order is the culmination of rhetoric and promises from Trump and his advisers, and an extension of previous actions he took to eliminate diversity initiatives during his first term.
The OPM memo also sets another deadline: Jan. 31, when federal agencies must submit a written plan to lay off employees on paid leave.
Employee furloughed after 23 years of service He said he served as his agency's DEI adviser for two years until December, when his office was disbanded in anticipation of Trump administration policies. While he's currently receiving a salary and benefits, he worries that if his job is eliminated, he won't be able to pay his bills and the career he considers a "core part" of his life will be wiped out.
"I was a little gay boy in the South. For years, I felt displaced, different, different, and uncomfortable at home or in my skin," he said. "I also grew up in poverty ... and it just made me want to use the privilege that I have to make a difference in lives. To improve areas for people who don't have that privilege in those areas."
One federal worker who was furloughed this week, a woman of color, said she was prepared to lose her job before Election Day. She also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
In June, the federal employee began buying her children larger sizes because she expected she would not be able to afford new clothes as their children grew older. She said there were very few presents under the Christmas tree last month.
"It's hard," she said. "You decide not to take your kids to Target so they don't ask you for a bunch of stuff you can't afford, because you have to plan for whatever happens."
Despite her preparations, the woman said she was still surprised and disturbed by the speed with which Trump's orders were implemented. She said when she received word of the furlough, her superiors did not tell her why.
"When you decide to become a public servant, your goal is to truly help the American people. Anyone who's been in this profession knows that our goal is to help everyone all the time," she said. "It's frustrating that we've become pawns in this fight for control. But again, this is what the American people voted for."
A man who leads an LGBTQ employee resource group at a cabinet-level agency said his group helped the agency develop internal policies for transgender employees. He asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisal. The policies include protocols for how to change a transgender 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 employees who are going through the transition now have to figure out the whole process themselves - they're creating the wheel over and over again for everyone," he said. "Without this policy, it basically puts all the burden on employees to try and fix the problem."
The man added that since Trump was re-elected in November, many LGBTQ staff at federal agencies have told him they plan to come out at work. He said a lot of people have said, "My plan is to be invisible for the next four years."
The memorandum and executive order’s impact has been felt across the federal government. The Wilson Center, a Washington think tank overseen by presidentially appointed trustees, sent a letter to staff closing all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility 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 another order directing the Federal Aviation Administration to end DEI operations. An accompanying fact sheet on Trump's actions said they resulted in the hiring of people with "severe intellectual" disabilities, mental problems and total paralysis. "It further ordered performance reviews of all FAA employees.
Trump also rescinded a 1965 order signed by then-President Lyndon Johnson that banned hiring discrimination by federal contractors.
Trump and his allies have labeled DEI programs discriminatory.
“President Trump campaigned on ending the federal scourge of DEI and returning America to a merit-based society where people are hired based on their skills, not their skin color. This is true for all races, religions and another victory for Americans of faith," said White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt.
Many civil rights and diversity laws and programs were enacted because for decades, few people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans held tax-supported jobs.
According to an analysis of federal data by the Partnership for Public Service, an organization dedicated to attracting talent to the federal government, white people will still make up the majority of federal workers in 2023, accounting for 59.5%, with men outnumbering women by 55% to 45%. workforce and improving how government operates. The analysis found that 74% of senior management positions are held by white people and 26% by people of color.
In the United States today, 58.4% of the population is non-Hispanic white and 50.5% is female.
Ramiro Cavazos is the president and CEO of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, which works to increase the number of Hispanics and Hispanics in political roles and the federal government.
Cavazos viewed the orders as political messages. He questions whether Trump's orders will have much staying power when they conflict with the realities of workforce demographics. Hispanics are the fastest-growing group of workers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"We're the only workforce there," he said. "Ultimately, they know who the workforce is going to come from."
Even workers without paid leave are feeling the impact of Trump's executive order.
"There's a lot of fear right now," said one federal worker who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect staffers' jobs. The employee said some employees have stopped participating in messaging apps or email strings that connect employees with similar racial or ethnic backgrounds.
"It feels like we're in Cuba," said the worker, whose job has not been eliminated but whose duties include providing resources to minority communities.
The employee said co-workers were worried about using social media or cell phones, even personal phones, for fear they were being monitored or eavesdropped.
One man who works for a federal agency, who asked that his name not be published for fear of retaliation, said leadership training his team was organizing in response to the new order was canceled. The training is designed to teach managers how to handle working with multigenerational employees.
"Everyone has to line up completely. There's no real room for dissent," he said. "It's going to be a long few years."
The OPM memorandum also directs agency and department heads to provide a list of DEI offices within their departments and their employees. We sent an email to all federal workers threatening "adverse consequences" if they did not report colleagues whose DEI responsibilities may have been covered up or obscured.
The federal employee of more than two decades later became a DEI consultant and transferred to the Office for Civil Rights in December. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, he received an email notifying him that he would be immediately placed on leave with benefits, that his email would be paused, and that he would receive updates as they became available.
DEI is used as a "convenient scapegoat for more politics of discontent," he said.
“The way DEIA has been talked about, presented, and used in conservative politics as some sort of bogeyman is absolutely not true on its face, whether it’s what DEIA means, what we do, or what these programs do for (and not just How beneficial it is just to the minority community) but to everyone," the worker said.
"DEI policies benefit everyone. A rising tide lifts all boats," he said.
Former President Joe Biden promoted diversity, equity and inclusion during his administration and addressed these issues in executive orders.
In a 2023 order, he required each government agency to establish a DEI team and ordered the creation of an oversight committee to guide DEI efforts. Trump has rescinded that order and others.
Federal Workers Local 3403 President Jesús Soriano noted that the federal workforce has smaller pay gaps between gender, race and other groups than in the private sector. "No matter what we look like, we are all able to provide professional service to the government after being sworn in," he said.
He said the government still had a lot of work to do to ensure the workforce was representative of the people it served.
"This is yet another way President Trump is destroying the merit-based civil service and then turning hiring and firing decisions into loyalty tests," Soriano said.
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