Federal workers fired in anti-DEI purge say it was because they're not white men

Federal employees from several agencies filed a class action complaint Wednesday, claiming the Trump administration unlawfully fired employees for DEI activities.

Federal employees across several government agencies filed a class action complaint Wednesday against the Trump administration, claiming it unlawfully fired employees for DEI activities as part of President Donald Trump’s sweeping executive order that banned diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the federal government.

The administration fired employees it perceived as being associated with DEI, the filing alleges, including those who were not involved in any DEI-related activities or whose only DEI-related activity was involvement in a training or employee resource group.

In the complaint, filed to the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board — an independent, quasi-judicial agency established to protect federal employees against abuses, including politically motivated firings, and is not a federal court — the former employees said that the mass firings violated their First Amendment rights for perceived political stances. 

Demonstrators protest during a rally for federal workers at the U.S. Capitol, on Feb. 11, 2025.Tierney L. Cross / Bloomberg via Getty Images fileAdditionally, the complaint alleges that the anti-DEI executive orders violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by disproportionately singling out federal workers who were not white men for hostility, suspicion, job interference and termination. 

The complaint was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, D.C., private law firms and the legal organization Democracy Forward. The complaint was filed in tandem with numerous charges of discrimination to federal Equal Employment Opportunity offices, related to Trump’s Jan. 20 executive orders that the Office of Personnel Management terminate all activities related to DEI across the government.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/federal-worker-lawsuit-dei-related-firings-rcna198062

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