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Workers at US government agencies including the Department of Defense have received directives ordering them to remove pronouns from their email signatures.
According to a CNN report, employees were told to “remove gender identifying pronouns from email signature blocks by 5:00 PM” on Friday, January 31.
The moves come as part of a wider crackdown on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, departments, and practices by President Trump in the early days of his second presidential term.
Email pronoun mandate compounds anti-DEI federal orders
An earlier directive issued by the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s HR agency, instructed all department and agency heads to halt DEI-related initiatives by 5 pm on Wednesday January 2022, including the removal of references to DEI in official materials.
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All federal employees working in DEI roles were placed on paid administrative leave, with departments told to close their doors within 60 days of the directive.
Trump’s new order, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth,” that makes it US government policy to recognize “two sexes, male and female,” leaves no room for workers to include gender pronouns.
The State Department, the Department of Defense, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) were among those to receive the order to ensure all workers remove pronouns from their email signature.
At the State Department, a memo from an acting head of management said it is “reviewing all agency programs, contracts, and grants that inculcate gender ideology.”
Concern about impact of policies on freedom of speech
A worker at the agency told CNN that the order has created concern across the workforce about what it could mean for freedom of speech.
Another memo sent to ODNI workers earlier this week showed that the Trump administration is taking the enforcements of anti-DEI policies seriously, warning the workforce that reported attempts to “subvert” presidential directives could result in “possible disciplinary action, including termination.”
“It is my understanding that these alleged actions go beyond unintentional missteps, which can happen when implementing a quick pivot to new priorities and cause harm to the reputation of our Community,” it said.
The removal of pronouns has also been mandated in contracts handled by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including variations of the terms “he/she/they/them,” “inclusivity,” and “nonbinary.”
Mandatory Labor Law Handouts: What Employers Need to Know
Most employers know they are required to display a number of mandatory labor law postings issued by federal, state, county and city government agencies.
But are you aware that an employer’s obligation to inform employees of their legal rights does not end with postings displayed on a wall?
This e-guide will answer some of your most pressing questions about mandatory employee handouts:
What are employee handouts/notifications?
When are they required?
Why do they matter?
Where do you get them?
Why do workers include pronouns in email signatures?
In June 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on gender identity, prompting surge in the number of workplaces encouraging workers to include gender pronouns in their email signatures.
Under the ruling, prohibited acts of discrimination include “intentionally and persistently failing to use the name and gender pronoun that correspond to the gender identity with which the employee identifies [and has] communicated to management and employees.”
The order to remove pronouns from email signatures raises questions about whether US government agency workers will be free to communicate their preferences to colleagues and the impact of a possible increase in pronoun misuse.
Those who advocate for employers and HR teams to encourage pronoun sharing in locations such as email signatures and messaging platform profiles argue they help create non-discriminatory, respectful, and engaging workplace cultures; but the directive is consistent with President Trump's policy to 'eliminate inclusivity' from federal government.
According to a Harris Poll survey commissioned by Out & Equal and Workplace Communications, nearly three-quarters of Americans believe that employers should learn and use employees’ pronouns in the workplace, while two-thirds agree that employers should intervene after pronoun misuse.
