The 954 employees of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services who were laid off during the recent government shutdown are back on the job. The move follows a federal court ruling that blocked the layoffs, which were challenged by multiple unions.
According to a court filing, Thomas Nagy Jr., deputy assistant secretary for human resources, sent an email informing these workers that their layoff notices were rescinded and that they “should return to work on their next regularly scheduled workday.” Furloughed employees also were told they would receive back pay for the duration of the shutdown, from Oct. 1 through Nov. 12.
The initial reduction in force happened during the second week of the shutdown as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to downsize the government workforce. About 600 of the 954 employees who were laid off work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to NPR. HHS employs more than 79,000 total workers.
More than a half dozen unions, including the American Federation of Government Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, sued to stop the layoffs. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of the Northern District of California in late October indefinitely blocked the layoffs. Her preliminary injunction said she believed they ultimately would be deemed illegal and exceeded executive authority.
Nagy said at the time of the injunction that these employees were not subject to the judge’s order because they are not represented by either union. Although the CDC formerly acknowledged bargaining units, the agency terminated these agreements following a previous executive order from President Trump barring certain federal agencies from labor-management relations programs, he said.
The layoffs and recissions are only the latest labor development in a tumultuous year for HHS employees. The department laid off around 10,000 workers last spring under the direction of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Department of Government Efficiency. In a matter of weeks, Kennedy recalled hundreds of these workers after determining they were completing important work.
The administration at other times has mistakenly fired employees but later asked them to return to work. A glitch in the system caused approximately 700 CDC workers to incorrectly receive reduction in force notifications during the shutdown, an HHS official said.
HHS workers who were rehired after the shutdown told The Hill that they expect to be laid off again if Congress doesn’t agree on a spending deal by the end of January.
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