HHS Sends Additional RIF Notices to Dozens of Staff Missed in Earlier Layoffs

HHS sent reduction in force notices to 78 employees on May 16, 2026, who had avoided the April 1, 2025 layoffs due to improper position coding in competitive areas. The National Institutes of Health received 43 of the 78 notices. HHS also plans to reclassify hundreds of GS-15 positions as Schedule Policy/Career, limiting appeal rights. The agency laid off 10,000 employees in 2025 and shrank to 62,000 full-time staff before planning to hire 12,000 new employees.

Second round RIF notices

• ▪The 78 employees receiving May 2026 reduction in force notices had avoided the widespread Department of Health and Human Services layoffs that began in April 2025.
• ▪Terminated Department of Health and Human Services employees filed a class-action lawsuit arguing that the department relied on error-ridden data to conduct the 2025 widespread layoffs.
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services sent reduction in force notices to 78 employees on May 16, 2026.
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services identified that certain positions were improperly coded in some competitive areas during the April 1, 2025 reduction in force action.

Employee rehiring after layoffs

• ▪The National Institutes of Health brought back 150 laid-off human resources employees to help process paperwork for thousands of Department of Health and Human Services employees leaving the agency.
• ▪Centers for Disease Control and Prevention leadership reinstated about a third of the 2,400 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees who were laid off as part of the Department of Health and Human Services-wide downsizing.
• ▪The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reinstated 1,000 employees who were laid off from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services rehired about 60 acquisition employees working in the Office of the Chief Information Officer and told them to return to work immediately.

Workforce rebuilding efforts

• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services laid off 10,000 employees in 2025.
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services shrank down to 62,000 total full-time employees after the 2025 cuts.
• ▪Acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jay Bhattacharya told employees in March 2026 that the agency is looking to shore up some of the gaps in its workforce stemming from widespread layoffs.
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services has a headcount of 72,000 employees as of April 2026.
• ▪10,000 Department of Health and Human Services employees accepted the deferred resignation program or early retirement offers in 2025.
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services plans to hire 12,000 new staff.

Schedule Policy Career conversions

• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services identified hundreds of GS-15 positions that will be reclassified as Schedule Policy/Career as part of an initial tranche of conversions.
• ▪The Office of Personnel Management issued a final rule in February 2026 creating Schedule Policy/Career.
• ▪The Schedule Policy/Career designation will give about 50,000 federal employees in policymaking roles limited appeal rights, making them easier to fire.

Agency culture change rationale

• ▪Jay Bhattacharya serves as the Senate-confirmed director of the National Institutes of Health.
• ▪Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said the 2025 Department of Health and Human Services workforce cuts were necessary to change the culture at these agencies.
• ▪Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told House appropriators on April 16, 2026 that morale at the Department of Health and Human Services is much better than it was a year ago.

Perspective of Terminated HHS employees

• ▪Terminated Department of Health and Human Services employees filed a class-action lawsuit arguing that the department relied on error-ridden data to conduct the 2025 widespread layoffs.

Perspective of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

• ▪Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. told House appropriators on April 16, 2026 that morale at the Department of Health and Human Services is much better than it was a year ago.
• ▪Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said the 2025 Department of Health and Human Services workforce cuts were necessary to change the culture at these agencies.

1 source