Union: CDC officials who inform Congress among those fired in shutdown
After layoff notices to 600 or 700 CDC employees were rescinded over the weekend, there are still about 600 employees newly laid off, according to union officials along with current and former employees who held two online press briefings Tuesday.
Officials with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have not commented on the number of people laid off from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and did not answer that question when asked by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A spokesperson for HHS did say the firings were “a direct consequence of the Democrat-led government shutdown,” and that the people fired had overlapping responsibilities.
The people in the press briefing said they pieced together information from social media, employee emails and other sources to come up with the best estimate for the number of layoffs. They said some of those laid off are experts who are called upon to testify to Congress, or prepare lawmakers for hearings.
John Brooks, who served as chief medical officer in several CDC outbreak responses and HIV prevention before retiring last year, cited a “stunning level of incompetency managing basic personnel actions” by the administration.
Yolanda Jacobs, head of the local union that represents CDC workers, noted the Trump administration’s explanation of a “coding error” when rescinding the notices.
“Imagine you learn late on a Friday evening you’ve been suddenly fired, illegally fired, from your job,” Jacobs said. “And then the next evening on a weekend, you receive a conflicting notification that due to a coding error, you have been reinstated — with no transparency or clear rationale on why any of this has happened in the first place.”
Both Brooks and Jacobs said the past seven months have left public health workers at the agency traumatized.
“There’s been no plan and the disorganization is obvious,” Jacobs said.
A spokesperson for HHS said in an email that Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the agency, were cutting a “bloated” federal government. The statement said that the employees given notice had been designated by their divisions as “non-essential.”
Several speakers at the news conferences said HHS appeared to walk back the firings in response to public pushback.
A court filing by the Trump administration defending the cuts said they expected more than 4,000 federal workers to be let go last weekend from several agencies, such as the Department of Education.
The panelists said among those who lost their CDC jobs were employees in Human Resources, as well as some of the workers who helped employees through the trauma of the Aug. 8 shooting at the Atlanta headquarters.
They said the list also includes the entire Washington, D.C,. office that provides data, science and other information to members of Congress, and prepares them for meetings such as the recent hearing held by Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate’s health committee, that grilled Kennedy on the state of the CDC.
“These firings mean Congress no longer has a means of direct access to the agency it funds when it needs information or briefings,” Brooks said. “Every American is less safe when their duly elected federal representative has their access to information affecting health restricted.”
The two briefings Tuesday were held by a group of retired and fired CDC workers, and then by the union local that represents CDC workers. Several participants agreed that they believe the glitches and firings are meant to harm the agency.
About the Author
Ariel Hart is a reporter on health care issues. She works on the AJC’s health team and has reported on subjects including the Voting Rights Act and transportation.
