MORGANTOWN – More than 100 employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reportedly were sent home Tuesday as part of a national push to dismiss 10,000 federal employees from the Department of Health and Human Services.
The DHHS recently issued reduction-in-force notices to American Federation of Government Employees union locals – including Local 3430, which handles collective bargaining for the NIOSH site in Morgantown. That location has about 500 employees, and the RIF notice targeted 185 positions.
The RIF notice applies only to bargain unit-eligible employees, so the number of affected employees remains unknown when considering contractors, supervisors and other positions not covered by unions.
Initial reports indicate that several employees were notified by email Tuesday morning of being placed on administrative leave.
“Pursuant to Article 18 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement … this letter services as formal notification that the Department of Health and Human Services will be implementing a Reduction in Force (RIF) of all employees in the noted competitive areas,” the notices state. “This action is being taken in accordance with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14210, dated Feb. 11, 2025, and HHS’s broader strategy to improve its efficiency and effectiveness to make America healthier.”
The layoffs at NIOSH are eliminating 873 jobs around the country, targeting sites in Morgantown, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Spokane, Wash.
U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., who chairs the Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee, said while she feels the Trump administration’s overtures to right-size government are sound, she still worries miners and others in the state could bear the brunt of such measures.
“I’m concerned that today’s cuts at CDC/NIOSH could impact vital health programs that are important to many West Virginians, especially our coal miners,” Capito said in a statement. “During my meetings with Secretary (Robert F.) Kennedy prior to his confirmation and as recently as last week, we discussed how important the health of coal workers is to West Virginia.
“Any cuts that impact their health monitoring need to be restored immediately. I am working with the Department of Health and Human Services to understand the depth of these cuts, both to programs and the workforce in Morgantown,” Capito said.
United Mine Workers of America International President Cecil E. Roberts echoed Capito, saying the cuts will significantly increase the risks to coal miners.
“(A)t the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services, NIOSH began laying off hundreds of workers who are engaged in research and the improvement of products and practices that literally save the lives of coal miners every day,” Roberts said in a prepared statement. “The announced significant downsizing of offices in Morgantown, W.Va., and Pittsburgh, Pa., are particularly devastating to the coal industry, which relies on the research done there to improve its safety practices.”
Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan last week to remake the HHS department, which, through its agencies, is responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, and monitoring the safety of food and medicine, as well as for administering health insurance programs for nearly half the country.
Other layoffs included 3,500 jobs at the Food & Drug Administration; 2,400 positions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1,200 jobs at the National Institutes for Health; and 300 at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
