Washington, DC — In another sign of demoralizing micro-management within the Trump administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency employees have been directed to limit email salutations to name, job title, agency component, and phone number, according to an all-employee memo released today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Employees may not include advanced degrees, awards, certificates of specialization, or any other job-related information.

The all-employee memo states that as “an all-important matter,” only the person’s name, job title, agency component, phone, email, and mailing address may be listed in official correspondence.”

“As part of the agency’s efforts to comply with the ‘Defending Women’ EO [Executive Order] and ensure uniform and professional agency communications, by no later than February 21, 2025, every agency employee must limit the information in their Outlook signature block unless otherwise directed by their supervisor to the following…”

“Forbidding employees from including a notation of a doctorate or law degree is a degrading indication that they work in an institution where qualifications no longer matter,” stated PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney formerly with EPA. “It’s odd that an Administration that places so much emphasis on so-called ‘merit-based hiring,’ they want to erase all evidence of that merit.”

Inclusion of one’s preferred pronouns in official emails had already been forbidden under Trump’s Executive Order declaring that there are only two genders and forbidding any references to “gender identity.”

The new memo goes on to state that under Trump’s outlawing of “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” activities, EPA will also bar any efforts to “advance recruitment, hiring…or employee retention” based upon what it terms “protected characteristics.” In addition, activities such as “affinity group lunches,” “mentorship programs,” and “cultural events” will be subject to heightened scrutiny to ensure that they serve “the broader goal of creating a federal workforce focused on individual merit.”

“No administration in U.S. history is less focused on ‘individual merit’ in federal service than this one,” Bennett added, pointing to recent mass terminations, regardless of individual merit, in an array of federal agencies. “Unfortunately, the only special inclusion efforts now evident is the recruitment of unqualified MAGA bros to make decisions affecting public health and welfare.”

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See the all-EPA directive