HHS is looking for some laid-off employees to keep working

On Tuesday, thousands of Food and Drug Administration workers were laid off. They were shut out from the government offices where they had worked and placed on administrative leave until June 2.

But just hours after employees were shown the door, Barclay Butler, the agency’s new chief operating officer, asked top FDA officials to identify employees to keep working for the next two months, according to an email obtained by The Washington Post.

It appears, according to the email, that the agency needed laid-off employees to help transition as it was shedding workers.

“If you experience challenges with employees not wanting to work, we encourage you to select another employee that can support you in the transition efforts,” Melanie Keller, an FDA official, wrote in a follow-up email to senior leaders on Wednesday.

The request came as senior leaders across the Department of Health and Human Services were put on administrative leave or offered reassignment, while thousands of other employees were laid off earlier this week. HHS has said the cuts of 20,000 employees - including those who took buyouts and early retirement - will save the department about $1.8 billion annually.

As FDA worked to try to recall fired workers to return on a temporary basis, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters that some fired personnel and canceled studies would be reinstated, such as a program monitoring lead in children.

“We talked about this from the beginning,” Kennedy told reporters. “We’re going to do 80 percent cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstalled because we’ll make mistakes.”

Kennedy defended the cuts, however, saying his department’s layoffs are “not affecting science,” calling HHS a “bloated agency.”

At the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, at least nine principal investigators who run scientific laboratories were laid off Tuesday, but were then brought back by Thursday, according to two NIH staffers with direct knowledge of the situation who shared information on the condition of anonymity and an internal email reviewed by The Post. The intention is to restore their positions permanently but their RIFs haven’t yet been reversed and details are still being worked out.

At the FDA it was unclear how many fired workers would be asked to return on a short-term basis.

“Within the lists provided to you last night, I request each Center/Office Director identify key individuals who should be restored from administrative leave to a temporary remote-working status, referred to by HHS as ‘Authorized to Work,’” Butler wrote Tuesday afternoon.

He recommended the list of positions include, “but are not limited to,” functions such as travel and logistics for foreign inspections; timekeeping; information technology; management of user fees that industries pay the FDA; laboratory personnel; financial management; and several other areas.

“As a point of emphasis, I am only asking for the employees who are necessary for support during the 60-day transition period,” Butler wrote.

On Wednesday afternoon, Keller emailed senior leaders that they or other managers could directly authorize staff to temporarily work remotely and shared a sample of a note they could send their employees. She asked agency officials to send lists of those authorized to work by the close of business Thursday to ensure the staffers will no longer be on administrative leave.

In an email, Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesman, wrote that all employees affected by the reduction in force may be asked to temporarily work until their government service ends on June 2.

“This decision is focused on ensuring that the transition is as seamless as possible, minimizing any disruption to the agency’s mission and operations,” Nixon wrote. “HHS fully supports this approach, which aims to maintain public health services while managing the reorganization process effectively.”

Anthony Lee, the president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter representing FDA employees, said the federal health department’s sweeping reduction in force has been “full of errors.”

“It does not show employees the dignity and respect they deserve as FDA employees to ask them to work while on administrative leave and in a RIF status,” he said.

Last week, HHS announced a broad outline of its effort to reduce staff from 82,000 to 62,000 - half of those took buyouts or early retirement and the other half would lose their jobs. The FDA was slated to lose about 3,500 employees, according to a fact sheet released by HHS, which said the cuts would not “affect drug, medical device, or food reviewers, nor will it impact inspectors.” The roughly $7 billion agency is charged with overseeing the safety of vaccines, medicines and medical devices; the majority of the U.S. food supply; tobacco products; and more.

“We must shift course,” Kennedy wrote Tuesday on X. “HHS needs to be recalibrated to emphasize prevention, not just sick care. These changes will not affect Medicare, Medicaid, or other essential health services.”

Mitch Zeller, a former head of the FDA’s tobacco center who left the agency in 2022, said the efforts to seek staff to work temporarily underscores the value of the office management who had been laid off.

“It’s also proof that the Administration will have produced a historic level of dysfunction in the federal government when the dust settles,” he said.