Federal officials are reinstating hundreds of laid-off NIOSH employees, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesman confirmed Wednesday, after the terminations were rescinded amid legal and political pressure. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents workers at NIOSH and parts of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said all NIOSH terminations have been rescinded.
The reinstatements follow a year in which the Trump administration gutted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in April. Government officials laid off close to 900 of NIOSH’s 1,000 employees as part of a broader remaking of the federal workforce described as being led by then-adviser Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency, according to the report.
Some employees were brought back last year after legal challenges and political pressure, including people who staffed a health monitoring program for miners in West Virginia. But AFGE said the earlier rehires did not fully resolve the layoffs, and that the latest action rescinds the remaining terminations.
In a statement, AFGE national president Everett Kelley said: “The administration’s attempt to lay off nearly every NIOSH worker was shameful and illegal, considering that much of NIOSH’s work is required by law,” according to the report.
A HHS spokesman, Andrew Nixon, confirmed in a statement that laid-off NIOSH employees were being reinstated. Nixon said: “The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services — whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,” the report said. Nixon did not respond to questions about how many workers were being reinstated, why the workers were laid off, or why HHS decided to rescind the layoffs.
It was also unclear, according to the report, how many of the laid-off NIOSH workers have taken other jobs or decided to retire and will not be returning. Michael Barasch, an attorney who represents 9/11 survivors and their families, said it is likely many workers have moved on.
Barasch described the impact of the layoffs as “horrifying,” saying the cuts delayed diagnosis and treatment and that “people died because of these cuts,” according to the report. He said he has helped clients enroll in the NIOSH World Trade Center Health Program, which provides medical monitoring and treatment.
Late last year, the CDC had about 10,800 full-time workers, or about 20% fewer than the number with the agency before the April layoffs began, according to the CDC as cited in the report.