Mahri Stáinnak remembers the day they got the phone call that would change everything. Stáinnak was eating dinner with their family when a human resources representative called to tell Stáinnak that they were being put on administrative leave after more than 16 years of successful service in the federal government.
In those years of service, Stáinnak helped dozens of cities across the country prevent millions of gallons of raw sewage from overflowing into our lakes and rivers. Stáinnak also managed a team that helped veterans, disabled people, and recent graduates learn about federal government jobs.
Stáinnak didn’t need to wonder why they were being put on leave. The caller said it plainly: it was because of their work on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). This answer confused Stáinnak even more because, at the time, they were working at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) in a position unrelated to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Stáinnak realized that they were being targeted by the Trump administration for work they had once done. That felt shocking—and wrong.
Many other federal employees got similar notices. Roni Chambers got her notice after 20 years of dedicated service at the Federal Aviation Administration. Stefanie Anderson was put on administrative leave from the Centers for Disease Control after responding effectively to public health emergencies for more than a decade.
On March 26, alongside our legal partners, the ACLU of D.C. filed a class-action complaint against the Trump administration for unlawfully targeting federal employees like Stáinnak, Chambers, and Anderson for their participation in diversity, equity, and inclusion activities. We're asking the Merit System Protections Board, which exists to protect federal employees from unlawful employment actions, to reinstate all unconstitutionally punished employees and to make them whole for the wages they have lost and other damages they have experienced.
Before the second Trump administration, these employees were simply doing their jobs. Some helped federal employees get the equipment they needed to do their jobs. Others were working to make sure everyone got a fair shot to receive government benefits and services, that government jobs went to people based on merit, and that applicants and employees were not discriminated against.
But in January 2025, President Donald Trump issued executive orders 14151 and 14173, which instructed OPM to terminate all government activities related to DEI and mandated that federal agencies compile lists of the government’s related programs and activities in existence as of November 4, 2024. Since Trump issued these orders, his administration has unlawfully targeted any federal employees with any connection to this idea.
As our complaint details, at the time many of these employees were fired or placed on leave, they were no longer in positions that performed DEI work. Some employees had never held such positions, but had only participated in related training or presentations.
The second Trump administration has made it clear that these punishments are not about employees’ roles or positions. The administration does not care if these employees were helping people get services, or ensuring that policies are legal, or even if the employees are no longer involved in DEI at all. Instead of identifying positions to eliminate, the Trump administration targeted people they thought held beliefs that clash with the president’s extremist agenda.
These actions show the administration’s true motive: to punish people for what the administration perceives as their political views. This kind of retaliation is a violation of federal employees’ fundamental First Amendment rights.
The Trump administration fired or punished experienced professionals who excelled at providing critical services, including in public health and safety. In practice, this targeting has had an outsized impact on federal employees who are women, non-binary, and people of color. This is employment discrimination, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Accordingly, we asserted Title VII claims in our class-action complaint and are pursuing it in tandem with numerous charges of employment discrimination filed with federal Equal Employment Opportunity offices.
Our clients were targeted not because they did anything wrong, but because President Trump did not like a belief he associated with them. This harms both the dedicated public servants who have been targeted, and the American people who have benefited from their expertise and diligence.
The fight to protect federal employees has just begun. We will keep fighting to get these dedicated public servants back to work for the American people. And we’ll keep fighting to defend all our civil rights and liberties from authoritarian attacks.
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