Rumors of mass reinstatements of previously RIF’d CDC employees at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) circulated on Tuesday afternoon. Andrew G. Nixon, an HHS spokesperson confirmed those rumors to Inside Medicine, saying that employees at NIOSH had been reinstated. Inside Medicine viewed two emails received by now-formerly-RIF’d NIOSH employees, notifying them that they had been given their jobs back. A screenshot of one of the emails received by an affected CDC employee is above.
There are reports that rescinded RIF notices went out to a large number of NIOSH staffers who had been cut from their jobs by the Trump administration in 2025 (most, if not all, on April 1), though the exact numbers were not yet known. Dr. Micah Niemeier-Walsh, a NIOSH employee and union representative, said that the number of reinstated NIOSH workers was “definitely [in the] hundreds,” but, as of Tuesday evening, could not cite specific figures. Update [Wednesday, January 14]: According to NIOSH leadership, “over 400 employees [were] reinstated.”
Another union volunteer, and others I spoke to, indicated that the restored jobs were broadly distributed within NIOSH. “Someone from every unit on administrative leave reported having a RIF rescinded today,” one union volunteer told Inside Medicine. According to the CDC Data Project, the affected work units therefore would be expected to have included workers from every division, branch, office, or other entity on this list:
So far, there is no indication that rescission notices—that is, RIF reversals—have been sent to CDC employees in units outside of NIOSH.
While this is excellent news for US public health generally, it’s not yet known why the change in policy occurred.
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