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Federal employees are beginning to see the impacts of Donald Trump’s executive orders on gender and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, as well as facing continued pressure to accept buyouts and resign from the government later this year.
On Thursday, as their agency worked to investigate a catastrophic plane crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter outside of Washington, employees of the Federal Aviation Administration were reportedly among government workers who got an email encouraging them to quit and find a “higher productivity” job.
“We encourage you to find a job in the private sector as soon as you would like to do so,” read an email that went out to FAA workers, as well as those at the CDC and Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, which was obtained by The New York Times. “The way to greater American prosperity is encouraging people to move from lower productivity jobs in the public sector to higher productivity jobs in the private sector.”
Earlier this week, the Trump administration offered millions of federal workers the chance to resign from their positions and keep getting paid through the end of September if they agreed to a buyout by February 6, though critics have argued the White House has neither the legal authority nor the guaranteed congressional funding to pay government workers who aren’t working.
The buyout offer comes at awkward time, especially for agencies involved in transit.
The tower at Ronald Reagan National Airport, near the site of the crash, has been understaffed for years, and the problem was exacerbated further on the night of the crash, when a supervisor allegedly let one of two normally assigned air traffic controller’s at the Reagan tower leave early.
Workers at agencies like the Departments of Energy and Transportation, as well as those at the CDC, have seen the Trump administration’s influence in other ways.
They reportedly received notices on Thursday to remove gender pronouns from their email signatures as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to end all DEI programs and spending in government and cease federal recognition of gender diversity.
“Pronouns and any other information not permitted in the policy must be removed,” a CDC official told employees in a message obtained by ABC News.
Some employees expressed displeasure with the changes.
“In my decade-plus years at CDC I’ve never been told what I can and can’t put in my email signature,” said one anonymous worker told the outlet.
The White House told The Independent that President Trump “cares about talent, not pronouns.”
“We look forward to quick compliance with President Trump’s executive actions to ensure that employee competence is front-and-center across the Executive Branch,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.
The Independent has contacted the FAA, and Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, Justice, Transportation, and Energy for comment.
