Since last week, approximately 600 employees with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have received layoff notices that were not later rescinded, internal CDC officials not authorized to speak to the media told CBS News on Tuesday.
According to the officials, about 1,000 CDC employees initially received reduction-in-force notices, a government term for layoffs, on Oct. 10.
However, within about 24 hours, hundreds of those notices were rescinded, leaving the total number of layoffs in the agency since Oct. 10 sitting at about 600, the officials said.
CDC programs that have seen staffing cuts include, but are not limited to, the CDC’s offices in Washington, D.C., the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention, the National Health and Nutrition and Examination Survey, and the CDC’s human resources department, the CDC officials told CBS News.
Among those cut were D.C.-based employees who served as intermediaries between the agency and Congress, often providing members with data and information about the CDC’s work, the officials told CBS News. For example, they were employees who provided Congress with information about the measles outbreak earlier this year.
In a media call Tuesday, AFGE Local 2883, the union that represents CDC employees, told reporters that it estimates the CDC has lost approximately 3,000 employees so far this year to resignations and layoffs, reducing the agency’s staffing levels by about 23%. CDC officials also confirmed that number to CBS News.
The CDC is part of the Department of Health and Human Services.
By Michael Kaplan, Caitlin Huey-Burns