Trump admin asks staff to report cases of bias due to DEI directives

The Department of Health and Human Services emailed staff a “whistle-blower questionnaire” asking them to report cases of discrimination due to past diversity, equity and inclusion directives, according to an email obtained by POLITICO.

The email asks staff five questions about whether they’ve witnessed people nix grants or contracts “with discriminatory language” and if they knew current and former staff who were passed over for promotions or hiring due to “race, religion, gender, national origin, age, disability or genetic information.”

The survey also asked employees whether they knew former career employees who quit or faced discipline during the Biden administration for refusing to execute DEI orders, and if people could identify DEI policies that “caused discrimination against employees, contractors or members of the general public.”

The questionnaire does not require respondents to enter identifying information but solicits their contact information to “follow up on further details” about “specific individuals.”

It’s unclear what action HHS will take following this survey. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the agency “took this action in accordance with President Trump’s executive order, titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing.”

This message comes months after the administration issued that executive order to eliminate DEI efforts in the federal government, which President Donald Trump and agency heads contend led to unlawful discrimination in the federal workforce.

In January, two days after the start of the second Trump administration, HHS said it would close all agency diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices “and end all DEIA-related contracts” to comply with the order, according to another email obtained by POLITICO.