Federal officials on Wednesday appear to have "revoked" the layoffs of more than 400 employees of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who had been abruptly dismissed months ago, which may reinstate the entire staff of a laboratory that tracks viral hepatitis and most employees in one of the CDC's environmental health divisions.
The workers were among thousands that the Department of Health and Human Services laid off on April 1 as part of a reduction in force at the agency, most of whom are still out of work.
Employees of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention accounted for 214 of the staff "expected to receive the rescission of RIF notifications," according to an email to the group from its acting director, Dr. Renáta Ellington, that was reviewed by NPR. The division's two laboratories that dealt with viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases had been shuttered completely, despite the fact that some of those scientists performed disease surveillance work unlike any other labs in the world.
More than 150 people who worked for the National Center for Environmental Health were also among the reinstated workers, according to three CDC employees familiar with the cuts. The center's Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, which includes employees based in Atlanta who work on asthma and air quality, environmental emergencies and lead poisoning prevention, may be almost entirely reinstated, two division employees told NPR.
At least 95 workers from other CDC divisions account for the rest of the employees who were notified on June 11, according to two CDC workers familiar with the cuts.
HHS notified CDC employees on Wednesday afternoon by email, copies of which were obtained by NPR. The email said the agency had "revoked" the "upcoming reduction in force" notices the workers had previously received. It did not explain the reason that HHS appeared to be reinstating hundreds of workers more than two months after it told many of them in another email that their jobs were "either unnecessary or virtually identical to duties being performed elsewhere in the agency."
Ellington, the director of the group most affected by the HHS backtrack, told her staff that she herself did not know "what factored into the decision or why certain staff received the notification," and advised the employees that the information might not be final.
HHS did not immediately respond to NPR's request for comment regarding the reason that it revoked the employees' notices. In April, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. acknowledged that about a fifth of the cuts at HHS were made unintentionally and some people would be offered their jobs back.
By May, Kennedy announced that 328 formerly laid off workers at another division of the CDC, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, had been reinstated.
Reactions to the news from workers at the CDC were mixed. Some scientists told NPR they would be excited to do their jobs again. Other workers said they were confused about the meaning of the emails and apprehensive about the consequences of the decision.
"I think people are very tacitly hopeful that this means they can get their jobs back and continue serving in ways that they love," said Kathryn Sisler, a health scientist at the Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice who received the email on Wednesday. "But there has been so much instability and chaos that I think a lot of people would hesitate to say it is good news."
Before Sisler was laid off in April, she worked with communities in several states to help people affected by the results of climate change, like increased heat. The turmoil that HHS had caused by shuttering her department two months ago already disrupted those efforts, she said.
"Some states and localities decided to already start laying people off because they weren't sure if the grants were going to continue," Sisler said. "Really just a lot of valuable data and information that was getting lost and not being utilized, especially as we look towards the heat season right now, which starts to get pretty deadly."
Reversing the layoffs would also bring logistical challenges for some affected employees, Sisler said. She and some other members of the division already moved away from Atlanta, where they had lived to be close to their jobs at the CDC's headquarters, she mentioned. Other employees had taken other jobs or had been offered them.
"It's a step in the right direction, but it doesn't feel like a victory that is on solid ground," said Sisler.
Staff at the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention confirmed that the lapse in activity while employees were not working in April and May had also caused damage in some of their labs. At least one machine would need repairs, two CDC employees told NPR, and some disease outbreaks had not been properly tracked. Since late April, without help from the CDC's hepatitis lab, health workers in Florida had not been able to confirm any additional cases as part of an ongoing hepatitis C outbreak in that state, said another worker at the CDC. The employees asked not to be identified because they said they fear retaliation.
Public health experts echoed the mixed sentiments of the employees.
"It's great to see that there is some recognition of the importance of these workers and that being in those positions is critical for the public health of America and that they are being reinstated in order to continue their important work," said Carmen Marsit, an environmental health researcher and professor at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health.
But "there's still a lot of people that are not being reinstated," he added. "And so I think there are still concerns about what is being missed."
Scott Becker, CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories, a group that works closely with some of the labs that were previously shuttered, said he was "happily flabbergasted" to learn of the HHS emails.
"I am concerned about how many of the people have already moved on or might move on and the trauma that they really must be going through with the uncertainty," said Becker. "But all in all, it's good news and I'll take it."
Yuki Noguchi and Selena Simmons-Duffin contributed to this report.
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