The Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday reinstated 328 federal employees who faced terminations, including those involved in screening for “black lung” disease in coal miners and for health issues in 9/11 first responders.
The reinstated employees are part of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that is focused on preventing and responding to work-related illnesses.
The Trump administration previously aimed to eliminate the majority of NIOSH’s more than 1,300 employees, part of a broader plan to downsize the federal workforce.
Hundreds of NIOSH staffers received termination letters in April and May, though some were temporarily brought back to complete certain tasks, while their terminations remained in effect for June. HHS’ acting chief human capital officer, Tom Nagy, told some employees on Tuesday that their terminations were “hereby revoked,” according to a memo obtained by NBC News.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed at a House budget hearing on Wednesday morning that 328 NIOSH employees had been called back. Roughly a third of them work at a facility in Morgantown, West Virginia, he said, and another third work in Cincinnati, where NIOSH operates two facilities.
“Secretary Kennedy has been working hard to ensure that the critical functions under NIOSH remain intact,” a CDC spokesperson said in a statement. “The Trump Administration is committed to supporting coal miners and firefighters, and under the Secretary’s leadership, NIOSH’s essential services will continue as HHS streamlines its operations. Ensuring the health and safety of our workforce remains a top priority for the Department.”
The Morgantown facility is home to NIOSH’s Respiratory Health Division, which oversees a program that offers free X-rays to identify “black lung” in miners, or lung scarring caused by continuously inhaling coal dust. A U.S. district judge in West Virginia ordered HHS on Tuesday to restore the division and continue its health surveillance in coal miners. Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., said at the House budget hearing that 111 NIOSH employees in Morgantown were reinstated this week.
As part of the 328 reinstatements, HHS also brought back 15 employees at the World Trade Center Health Program, which covers treatment for cancer, asthma, post-traumatic stress disorder and other 9/11-related illnesses. The program’s fate seesawed over the past few months as the Trump administration fired and rehired staffers, making it harder to enroll members or confirm that their treatments were covered by federal funding.
“Our agency was asked to make very, very serious budget cuts that were going to be painful. Some of them should not have been made, and that was one that should not have, and I reversed it,” Kennedy said at a Senate budget hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
The program began processing enrollments again on May 1, according to an internal email shared with NBC News by 9/11 Health Watch, a nonprofit group monitoring access to the program. But the group’s executive director, Benjamin Chevat, is asking for more certainty.
“Given the history of the last few months … we need to finally get a public assurance from the Secretary that this won’t just happen again and that the World Trade Center Health Program’s work will NOT be impacted any more,” Chevat said in an email.
In an agencywide email sent Tuesday afternoon and obtained by NBC News, NIOSH Director John Howard noted that some of the institute’s positions are still being eliminated.
“While we celebrate with those who received a recission letter from HHS, I am mindful that others did not,” Howard wrote. “I am hopeful that we can continue to make the case for reinstating everyone at NIOSH.”
Howard himself received a termination notice in early April, but returned to his post after bipartisan opposition from members of Congress regarding his dismissal. Fifty-six positions in the NIOSH director’s office were brought back Tuesday, according to an internal breakdown of the reinstatements viewed by NBC News.
The original NIOSH layoffs were part of a massive restructuring that aimed to consolidate the agency, among others, into a new division known as the Administration for a Healthy America. Kennedy said on Wednesday morning that he could not offer more details on the restructuring due to a court order and was temporarily barred from any further planning. A U.S. district judge in San Francisco ordered the Trump administration last week to pause its government overhaul, noting that the changes likely require authorization from Congress.
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