Employees of the Department of Education who participated in a diversity training program under the first Trump administration were placed on administrative leave on Friday evening, according to a report.
A union president told NBC News that 55 employees were affected including a public affairs specialist, civil rights attorneys, program manager analysts, loan regulators, and employees responsible for ensuring that children with special needs and individualized education programs receive accommodations from schools.
These employees will still receive their full benefits and salary but have been suspended from their email and other work-related communications.
Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 252, which represents hundreds of DOE employees, said it appears the Trump administration is trying to punish employees for partaking in training encouraged by Trump appointees, such as former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.
“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,” Smith said.
“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 resigned,” she continued. “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 training program was initially designed to have 400 participants.
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“We have 25 seats available for this course,” an email on the program said. “The Department’s strategic and comprehensive approach to equipping staff with skills in leading a diverse workforce includes the Diversity Change Agent Program. Graduates of this course are expected to serve as role models, spending some of their official duty time performing activities designed to improve the Education Department’s capacity to attract and retain a diverse workforce. This effort is essential to sustaining a clear and effective Department-wide program.”
In addition to these developments at the Department of Education, over a dozen workers at the Department of Energy, many of whom were not directly involved in DEI roles, have been placed on paid leave as part of Trump’s efforts to scale back DEI initiatives within the federal government, according to a union spokeswoman.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
