HHS brings back hundreds of staff following force reduction in latest rehiring move

FIRST ON FOX: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is rehiring more than 450 previously fired employees belonging to multiple divisions within the agency’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to an HHS official familiar with the matter.

The rehired workers come from four different operational divisions within the CDC. These divisions include the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Prevention (NCHHSTP), the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), the Immediate Office of the Director (IOD) and the CDC’s Global Health Center (GHC). 

The move to bring these employees back follows the Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to reorganize HHS and its sub-agencies during its first few months, which reports said included as many as 10,000 layoffs at various health agencies. It also follows multiple actions by the Trump administration following those layoffs to rehire some of the HHS staffers who were initially let go, such as those within the CDC’s World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Institutes of Health.

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“Personnel that should not have been cut, were cut,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told CBS News in April. “We’re reinstating them. And that was always the plan. Part of the — at DOGE, we talked about this from the beginning, is we’re going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated, because we’ll make mistakes.”

NCHHSTP will see the greatest number of its workers rehired out of the four divisions, with 214 returning. This HHS division consists of several smaller groups, including CDC’s Division of HIV Prevention, which media reports said was cut in half by the Trump administration. 

NCEH will see the next greatest number of returned employees, with 158 coming back. Similar to NCHHSTP, NCEH consists of multiple groups, including one titled the “Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice,” which the Trump administration initially eliminated altogether as part of its reforms.

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IOD will see the third most returning with 71 and CDC’s Global Health Center will see the least employees return out of the four divisions with 24 rehired workers.

HHS is just one of several agencies that have rehired employees following reductions in force spurred by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, the State Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development have all taken actions to rehire employees that were initially fired as a result of the reduction in force, per the Washington Post. 

“Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, the nation’s critical public health functions remain intact and effective. The Trump Administration is committed to protecting essential services—whether it’s supporting coal miners and firefighters through NIOSH, safeguarding public health through lead prevention, or researching and tracking the most prevalent communicable diseases,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said. 

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“HHS is streamlining operations without compromising mission-critical work. Enhancing the health and well-being of all Americans remains our top priority.”