Dozens of Department of Education Workers Put on Leave Following Trump Order, Union Says

U.S. Department of Education workers were put on leave in what appears to be a response to President Donald Trump’s order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government, a labor union president said on Monday. Sheria Smith, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 252, said that a common factor among those put on leave is that most appear to have taken a voluntary diversity training course offered by the department. The majority of employees placed on leave do not work in DEI initiatives and span all branches of the agency, she said, from an office that sends billions of dollars to K–12 schools to an investigative office that enforces civil rights laws....