HHS Conducts Mass Firings Across Agencies After Supreme Court Decision

Most employees who received layoff notices from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on April 1 are now officially separated from the agency, according to an email that went out Monday afternoon.

Prior to Monday, thousands of employees across the U.S. health agencies had their federal employment status in limbo waiting for legal battles to play out. However, on July 8, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled federal agencies are allowed to proceed with their reduction-in-force plans.

Still, some of the 10,000 employees let go are protected temporarily under a different court case, New York v. Kennedy, and are not being separated immediately. That includes employees at six areas of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), including the National Center for Environmental Health and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

As CMM previously reported, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) eliminated over 10,000 positions in March and consolidated 28 agencies to 15. Since then, RFK has repeatedly rescinded layoffs, including at least 722 employes at the CDC. Meanwhile, 43% of U.S. adults strongly or somewhat disapprove of how RFK is handling his job.