Donald Trump puts all US government diversity staff on paid leave, starting ‘immediately’

Image source, EPA

In other news this morning, the Trump administration is continuing its campaign against diversity and inclusion programmes.

In a US Office of Personnel Management memo, issued late last night, federal agencies are told to prepare to lay off staff in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) programmes. It orders all employees working in such roles to be placed on paid leave by 17:00 local time (22:00 GMT) Wednesday, according to the memo – obtained by CBS, the BBC’s US partner.

It follows a new executive order, signed by the president earlier in the day on Tuesday, calling for an end to what he called “dangerous, demeaning and immoral” hiring practices.

Trump’s campaign against diversity programmes is in line with the promises he made on the the campaign trail, where he often said such practices discriminated against white people and pledged to get rid of them.

Several large US companies have ended or scaled back their own DEI programmes since Trump was elected, including McDonald’s, Walmart and Meta. Others, like Apple and retailers Target and Costco, publicly defended their existing programmes.