Dozens of employees with the Department of Education were placed on administrative leave Friday, allegedly after attending a diversity training course encouraged by then-Secretary Betsy DeVos during the first Trump administration.
The letters sent out Friday said employees were getting placed on leave due to President Trump’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) order and guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, which has told agencies to rid themselves of individuals associated with DEI.
Sheria Smith, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, told NBC News at least 55 employees received the letter, which says the officials will for now continue to receive full pay and benefits from the government. Smith said she expects the number of affected employees to grow.
“It looks like they’re entrapping people, because they encouraged people to take these trainings … and are now maybe using these trainings as a basis to put them on administrative leave,” she told NBC.
The employees are not expected to do work on the leave and they will not have access to their work emails.
The event in question was called Diversity Change Agent training, a two-day course that occurred in March 2019 with a goal of 400 employees attending.
The Hill has reached out to the Department of Education for comment.
Even those who have not worked directly in DEI roles but went to the training have been put on administrative leave.
A range of positions have been affected, from those who work in the civil rights office to the Federal Student Aid office.
Trump has made eliminating DEI from the federal government one of his top priorities since returning to office. Federal employees have been threatened with punishment if they attempt to conceal that efforts or programs were DEI-related.
Smith said she believes the president is hoping Education Department staffers “will eliminate themselves.”
“I think it is 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,” she told NBC News.
