When layoff notices circulated from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Oct. 10, Arin Melton Backus thought she would be safe this time.
Then she received an email: She was participating in a major Reduction of Forces (RIF) during the US government shutdown. This was not the first or second time she was fired from the CDC via email.
Backus was fired three times and then reinstated this year.
Her experience exposes the inefficiency and turmoil in U.S. health agencies as leaders continue to cut workforces and eliminate programs vital to the health of Americans.
The latest round of closures of reefs is illegal, according to The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which is among the unions representing federal employees that are suing the government to stop the layoffs. A quarter of the CDC's staff is now reduced through several rounds of layoffs.
Some employees who had to work without pay during the shutdown received FIR notices; others who were furloughed learned they would never return to their jobs. Employees who should have been protected from RIFs by the ongoing lawsuit received them anyway. The human resources department at CDC was brought back from unpaid leave to handle about 1,300 layoffs—and then its own as the entire human resources department was eliminated.
Some of the gutted departments are required by law to continue operating despite the absence of employees. The Ethics Office and Institutional Review Board (IRB) have also been eliminated, meaning the CDC will no longer have oversight of ethical violations and research protocols.
All CDC library staff who are integral to research and recommendations have been furloughed. The Washington office, which prepared policy briefings and provided information to members of Congress, was also eliminated.
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotions, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and suicide prevention staff were also affected by the layoffs.
Numerous cuts at the agency mean the CDC can't do much of its work, even though some staff remain, said Karen Remley, who previously ran the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and was a Virginia state health official.
In April, for example, the entire team behind the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (Strollers) was made redundant, meaning a crucial tool for understanding maternal and child health is now missing.
“You can’t put the strollers away and keep the register and do all this work,” Remley said. “This artificial division and division actually means a cessation of work at the local level.”
Meanwhile, CDC employees are being attacked and harassed.
On August 8, a gunman fired 500 rounds at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), killing Officer David Rose and injuring agency employees and their families.
Health agency employees were presented with documents and their identities and personal information were revealed. Matthew Buckham, Kennedy's acting chief of staff, co-founded a group that maintains a “DEI Watch List” targeting HHS employees. The agency was also rattled by the high-profile Departures.
“There are no public health experts or medical professionals left at the highest levels of CDC leadership who could help write CDC recommendations,” said Abigail Tye, a former CDC official and a founding member of the National Public Health Coalition, which held a recent news conference at which Backus and other former CDC employees spoke.
“Billions of contracts and direct funding for state and local public health agencies have been canceled or returned, and the American people are about to suffer. It is difficult to put into words what the destruction of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) means for everyday Americans.”
The first round of layoffs at the CDC occurred on Valentine's Day. Probationary employees who are in their first year or two at their job, either because they were recently hired or have moved to a new position, and full-time senior staff received notifications.
Judge rules in September, the probation period went too far and some employees were reinstated and placed on administrative leave.
Meanwhile, FIR notices were issued on April 1 eliminating entire offices, such as the smoking and health office where Backus worked. At first, she didn't even receive a notification because her access to the CDC network, including email, was disabled.
She said the lawsuit specifically prohibits employees like Backus from being reassigned to new offices or fired from the agency. That's why she thought she would be safe this time, but still received the third notice of dismissal. This notice was canceled less than 24 hours later. About 700 employees were reinstated, and 600 remain discontinued.
“I am still on administrative leave and cannot do my job,” Backus said. “My situation only highlights the chaos and confusion that federal employees have faced over the past year. I am stuck in limbo, monitoring court cases, gathering information and trying to figure out what my next steps should be.”
Charlotte Kent, former editor-in-chief of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), said: “We have so many people who, if they were [un-RIFed]was on administrative leave. We see the inefficiency of many government resources, our taxpayer dollars, that are going to combat the illegal activities carried out by the administration.”
MMWR was among the departments completely gutted and then rebuilt, which was especially surprising since the highly regarded scientific journal was specifically included in the president's budget request for the first time this year.
“The fact that he was cut at this stage is absolutely shocking,” Kent said.
“It’s like playing a weird game where there are no rules,” said one former CDC employee who was subject to an FIR on Oct. 10 and spoke anonymously to avoid reprisals. Trump administration. “Honestly, it's like Squid Games – we don't know what's going to happen next.”
John Brooks, who retired from the CDC last year after 26 years and served as chief medical officer for several first responders, said the RIFs showed a “staggering level of incompetence.” The layoffs of CDC staff in Washington mean that “Congress no longer has a means of directly accessing the agency it funds when it needs information or briefings.”
Trump administration as reported says about 700 endings were a coding error.
“We are clear that this was not a coding error,” Tighe said. “This RIF was done like all the others: they fire as many people as they think they can get away with, there's a public outcry, there's an outcry from members of Congress, and then they bring back what they think people can't overcome.”
She called the layoffs “a deliberate attack on the American people and public health.”
“Our country is on an uncertain and downright scary path,” Tighe said. “We would like Congress to get involved.”
