Workers on the Division of Well being and Human Companies started to obtain notices of mass layoffs on Tuesday, days after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. introduced that 10,000 folks would lose their jobs, together with staff engaged on tobacco use, psychological well being and infectious illness.
The layoffs are anticipated to influence 3,500 staff on the Meals and Drug Administration and a couple of,400 staff from the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention — practically one-fifth of the workforce at each public well being divisions, which fall below HHS.
In complete, and together with roughly 10,000 individuals who have left over the previous couple of months via early retirement or deferred resignation packages, the general workers at HHS will fall from 82,000 to round 62,000 — or a few fourth of its workforce.
Federal staff wait in line to entry to the Mary E. Switzer Memorial Constructing that homes the US Division of Well being and Human Companies in Washington, D.C., April 1, 2025.
Roberto Schmidt/AFP through Getty Pictures
As information of the cuts unfold, staff stood in lengthy strains exterior of their workplaces in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Georgia, some ready for hours as safety decided whether or not they could possibly be let within the constructing or not. In some circumstances, staff had been circled after being knowledgeable that they not had a job.
