Government directives rattle employers and workers during Trump’s first month back in office

Trying to keep up with the news since President Donald Trump took office (again) on Jan. 20 has been like trying to drink from a firehose.

So, in case you chose your own mental health over trying to gulp in the myriad personnel changes and executive orders that could impact nearly every employer, here’s what you may have missed.

DE&I under threat. On his first day in office, Trump ordered that all DEIA efforts across the federal government be abandoned, HR Brew previously reported. The anti-DE&I executive orders have had a ripple effect at federal agencies, government contractors, and private entities.

While the White House has not defined what it considers “illegal DE&I,” several federal contractors, including RTX, Deloitte, and Booz Allen, changed some of their DE&I programming to comply with the executive orders or avoid attention. Other institutions, including the City of Baltimore and the Restaurant Opportunities Center United, sued the administration, claiming the orders violate the first amendment.

Trump abolished the Equal Employment Opportunity order from Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration as part of the DE&I executive orders, and the Department of Labor (DOL) halted all discrimination investigations into federal contractors.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, meanwhile, directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to develop a plan to convince private companies to abandon their DE&I initiatives. Since then, Disney and Google have made some changes to their programming, though neither have cited Bondi’s order as a motivating factor.

Gender identity erasure. The administration has also attempted to erase transgender and nonbinary identities through executive order, informing trans government workers to only use the restrooms associated with their birth gender, and restricting agencies to not publish statements in support of trans and nonbinary employees.

The DOL also took down its webpage with resources LGBTQ+ workers, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) paused all LGBTQ+ cases. By the end of January, the DOJ had also shut down its 30-year-old Pride employee resource group, NBC News reported.

Several government contractors have already complied with Trump’s directive on binary gender, instructing employees to remove their pronouns from their signatures and use the “appropriate” bathrooms if they work from an agency office.

Personnel shakeups at the NLRB, DOL, and EEOC. Are you dizzy from acronyms yet?

Between signing executive orders, Trump turned his attention to the EEOC, installing a prominent DE&I opponent, Andrea Lucas, as acting chair, and firing two commissioners before their terms were finished. The dismissals have left the agency without the quorum it needs to adequately run.

“I worry that what we will see is the EEOC weighing in on behalf of people who have been denied jobs, who assert that it’s because of unlawful DE&I programs,” dismissed commissioner, Jocelyn Samuels, told HR Brew.

Meanwhile, the DOL is awaiting the confirmation of its new chief. That process is currently underway for Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Some predict the pro-union nominee may be able to pick up some Democrat votes.

Telework is out. For everyone except Elon Musk, that is.

The administration ordered that all agencies develop systems so that workers can return to the office full-time, or quit.

The order is already creating headaches for some government workers and their families. (Military and diplomat spouses were granted an exemption on Feb. 12, so they can stay with their families overseas and keep their jobs, the Washington Post reported.)

It could also lead to brain drain for the federal government, according to Barron’s. The RTO orders issued by Biden in 2024, for example, had some adverse impacts on talent, with attrition of advanced workers increasing by 32%.

There also aren’t enough parking spots or desks for all workers to be in the office. The Air Force has already slowed its RTO plans in response, Federal News Network reported.

Tired? We are, too. But we never tire of bringing you the news, so we’ll keep you posted as the above inevitably changes.