The Trump administration has begun to deliver retribution in the Education Department as approximately 55 federal workers who took part in diversity training courses during his first term have unexpectedly been placed on leave.
President Trump’s decision to punish federal workers for enrolling in DEI programs during his first term is one of his first acts of battle against the size of the federal workforce.
But the move has left employees confused as diversity councils were set up by Trump’s own political appointees.
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The letter, which was sent on Friday night, said those placed on leave would continue to receive their salaries but would not have access to their work emails nor be expected to come into the office.
Separately, at least 14 employees in the Energy Department were placed on leave for jobs in recruiting veterans and using data to improve the workplace.
Union bosses are furious. Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, told NBC News that the union is preparing for much worse outcomes ahead after civil rights attorneys and special needs administrators were affected in this first round of Trump’s DEI crackdown.
“It looks like they’re entrapping people, because they encouraged people to take these trainings,” she told NBC. “Now maybe [they’re] using these trainings as a basis to put them on administrative leave.”
Smith also reportedly said that Trump’s anti-DEI tactics were part of an effort to force workers to “eliminate themselves” as news site Politico separately reported that changes in the guidance from the Office of Personnel Management forced the hand of civil servants overseeing the department.
“I think it is a shock and awe. They’re trying to send us emails that make no sense and are super confusing to intimidate us or to make us run scared so we quit.”
“They’re trying to make employees feel like they will soon get fired. And at the same time, they are trying to entice employees with an offer to pay them eight months’ salary if they just resign. So it seems as if you’re choosing between affirmatively resigning, where they’re saying that you might possibly get paid eight months’ salary and benefits, or eventually getting fired.”
The union for federal workers believes hundreds of employees attended diversity training sessions during Trump’s first term.
The Education Department set a goal in 2019 for training 400 workers as employees were urged to take up 25 available spots on a two-day course “equipping staff with skills in leading a diverse workforce.”
“This effort is essential to sustaining a clear and effective Department-wide program,” the email said. ”Your positive actions are the catalyst on our journey to achieving ED’s diversity and inclusion objectives.”
One lawyer representing an Army veteran who was being placed on leave in the Education Department claimed a DEI council was formed during Trump’s first term by his own appointees Kimberly Richey and Kenneth Marcus.
“My client, a veteran, did nothing to violate any executive order,” Subodh Chandra, the lawyer, said. “Nor did any of his similarly situated colleagues. He doesn’t even run a ‘DEIA’ project. He was only a member of an inactive committee, on which he was appointed by Trump’s own political appointees from the first term.”
Meanwhile, Brittany Holder, a spokeswoman for the American Federation of Government Employees, said that there were only two employees who had specific DEI briefs, with both being placed on leave.
“People are worried they are going to lose their jobs,” she said. “People are worried and angry.”
