HHS formally lays off thousands of employees following SCOTUS ruling
On Monday afternoon, thousands of employees across all agencies under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) received an email informing them they were officially fired.
According to CNN, the emails read: “You are hereby notified that you are officially separated from HHS at the close of business on July 14, 2025.”
“Thank you for your service to the American people.”
Around 10,000 HHS workers had been in limbo, waiting for federal courts to rule on the legality of the government’s ongoing mass firings. On July 8, the Supreme Court lifted injunctions put in place by lower courts.
Affected workers were initially released as part of the “dramatic restructuring” announced by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in March, which went into effect on April 1.
The impacted agencies include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), among others. HHS said the firings—spurred by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative—would improve operations, as various sub-agencies were merged and new ones created.
The legality of the restructuring is still being challenged in multiple lawsuits, including a major one brought by a coalition of state governments, which has accused Kennedy of rendering HHS unable to perform its core functions.
As a result of pending cases, some of the fired 10,000 workers may yet get a reprieve and remain on paid leave until those legal challenges are resolved. The cases are still making their way through the federal court system.
A revolving door
The mass purge of the federal workforce that began shortly after President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 left some federal agencies unable to perform certain tasks, leading to subsequent rehirings.
In June, Kennedy told Congress some 1,250 HHS workers had returned to the office, including 772 to the CDC and 220 to the NIH. He added that the DOGE firings left “gaps in our ability to perform our duties,” but otherwise defended the restructuring as necessary to reduce government waste.
Similarly, the FDA has gone through multiple waves of reinstatement after laying off thousands of employees. In February, the agency brought 300 employees back to increase the speed of medical device and drug approvals.
In May, the FDA rehired more staff, this time to respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, after a federal court ruled the agency needed to accelerate its response to comply with the law.
It's unclear if more rehirings are on the horizon. However, most reinstated employees remained on the HHS payroll until Monday, due to the lower court injunctions that were lifted by the Supreme Court.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.