US federal employees working in diversity offices must be put on paid leave by Wednesday evening as the new administration of Donald Trump has ordered the programmes to close, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, has confirmed.

“Send a notification to all employees of DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility) offices that they are being placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately as the agency takes steps to close/end all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs,” said a US office of personnel management memo posted on X.

The memo, confirmed by Leavitt, directed all department and agency heads to send workers notice by 5pm on Wednesday.

  • @Hawke
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    205 days ago

    British definition. Definition 3 from Wiktionary

    Usage notes:

    In the US, generally has devious connotations, while in the UK, frequently used as a neutral term for projects: “The road is closed due to a pavement-widening scheme.”

    • @kn33
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      English
      135 days ago

      Yup. Think less “Disney villain” and more “root word for schematic”

    • @Zron
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      44 days ago

      And here I was thinking that the British were just inherently devious little islanders.

    • Doug Holland
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      English
      14 days ago

      Thanks for this. I was about to blow a gasket.

      Still, it’s The Guardian’s US edition — they should know better.

      • @Hawke
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        14 days ago

        Nah, readers should know English better. :-)

        • @[email protected]
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          fedilink
          English
          14 days ago

          Same energy as an American going to the UK and throwing around the v-sign then trying to say “It’s not offensive in America! You should learn my culture better.”

          It’s pretty simple logic: if you’re publishing for a specific culture, you need to publish for that culture. And clearly, The Guardian agrees, because they changed the title of the article.