WASHINGTON — The federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) notified heads of agencies and departments that they must begin taking steps to close all diversity, equity and inclusion offices by the end of the day Wednesday and place government workers in those offices on paid leave, Fox News Digital has learned.
Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management Charles Ezell sent a memo to heads and acting heads of departments and agencies on Tuesday evening directing them that by no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 22, they are to:
- Send an agency-wide notice to employees informing them of the closure and asking employees if they know of any efforts to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language
- Send a notification to all employees of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs.
- Take down all outward facing media (websites, social media accounts, etc.) of DEIA offices
- Withdraw any final or pending documents, directives, orders, materials and equity plans issued by the agency in response to the now-repealed Executive Order 14035, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility in the Federal Workforce (June 25, 2021)
- Cancel any DEIA-related trainings and terminate any DEIA-related contractors
The memo also directed the heads of agencies and departments that by noon Thursday, Jan. 23, they must share with OPM:
- A complete list of DEIA offices and any employees who were in those offices as of Nov. 5, 2024
- A complete list of all DEIA-related agency contracts as of Nov. 5, 2024
- Any agency plans to fully comply with the above executive orders and this memorandum
By Friday at 5 p.m., agency heads must submit to OPM:
- A written plan for executing a reduction-in-force action regarding the employees who work in a DEIA office
- A list of all contract descriptions or personnel position descriptions that were changed since Nov. 5, 2024, to obscure their connection to DEIA programs
The memo comes after President Trump signed an executive order to eliminate all DEI programs from the federal government.
The president also signed an order making it ‘the official policy of the U.S. government to only recognize two genders: male and female.’