RIF job losses are underway at HHS agencies; reports
Reduction in force (RIF) job losses have started in earnest at US federal agencies, including the FDA and CDC, according to multiple media outlets which report that emails started to reach affected employees this morning.
The news comes just days after US Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr said he is planning 10,000 cuts to the full-time workforce at the agencies his department oversees, taking the total reductions to around 20,000 taking into account an already running early retirement scheme, the 'Fork in the Road' scheme of deferred resignation, and the wholesale firing of probationary workers.
It also follows an executive order by President Donald Trump to end collective bargaining with federal labour unions in agencies with "national security" missions, which includes HHS. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has said it intends to challenge that move in the courts.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM), meanwhile, has also issued guidance telling agencies to end union rights and union contracts and shut down grievance procedures.
The latest round of layoffs is reportedly targeting roles in human resources, procurement, finance, and information technology.
Reuters reported that staff were being told to present their badges as they turned up for work and – in the case of those earmarked for RIF – were being given a ticket and told to return to their homes. Meanwhile, a RAPS article suggests some FDA staff were being told yesterday to take work laptops home in case they were a candidate for a RIF email.
Under Kennedy's plan, the FDA is set to bear the brunt of the job losses, with 3,500 workers due to be shed, while the CDC is expected to reduce its headcount by around 2,400 and the NIH will lose 1,200 staffers.
The RIF notices indicate that the employees are being placed on administrative leave, but do not indicate whether that will be temporary or permanent. Under US law, a RIF reduction can be either, but generally refers to permanent termination.
The pharma industry has expressed its concern that the job losses could have a knock-on effect on critical processes like regulatory reviews of new products and guidance on the use of medicines including vaccines.
On Friday, those fears were compounded by the resignation of Peter Marks as the director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), who said Kennedy only wants federal employees who will provide "subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies."
