Layoffs start at federal agencies that deal with health, drugs, food, health insurance
Source: CBS News/AP
Updated on: April 1, 2025 / 8:25 AM EDT
Employees across the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services began receiving notices of dismissal on Tuesday in a major overhaul expected to ultimately lay off up to 10,000 people. The notices come just days after President Trump moved to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights at HHS and other agencies throughout the government.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan last week to remake HHS which, through its agencies, is responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, monitoring the safety of food and medicine, and administering health insurance programs for nearly half the country.
The plan would consolidate agencies that oversee billions of dollars for addiction services and community health centers across the country under a new office called the Administration for a Healthy America.
As CBS News reported last week, the layoffs are expected to shrink HHS to 62,000 positions, lopping off nearly a quarter of its staff — 10,000 jobs through layoffs and another 10,000 workers who took early retirement and voluntary separation offers. That's down from around 92,620 employees at the department in September 2024, according to federal records. There were 81,917 at the end of the first Trump administration.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hhs-layoffs-federal-agencies-track-disease-regulate-food-health-insurance/