Federal judge blocks HHS layoffs, says likely unlawful

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked mass layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services, ruling that they are likely unlawful.

U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose, in Rhode Island and a Biden appointee, granted the preliminary injunction that 19 Democratic-led states and the District of Columbia requested in a lawsuit in early May, according to the Associated Press.

DuBose wrote in her ruling that the states had shown “irreparable harm” from the layoffs and were likely to prevail in their claims that “HHS’s action was both arbitrary and capricious as well as contrary to law.”

“The executive branch does not have the authority to order, organize, or implement wholesale changes to the structure and function of the agencies created by Congress,” DuBose wrote in a 58-page order.

The judge's order blocks the Trump administration from finalizing layoffs that it had announced in March or firing any more employees. HHS must also file a status report by July 11.

DuBose's ruling applies to employees who were terminated in four different divisions of HHS: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; the Center for Tobacco Products within the Food and Drug Administration; the Office of Head Start within the Administration for Children and Families and regional office employees who work on Head Start matters; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., had cut more than 10,000 employees in late March and consolidated 28 agencies into 15 as part of the federal “Make America Healthy Again” directive to streamline costly agencies and reduce redundancies. 

However, some key teams were eliminated in the restructuring, and Kennedy has said that 20% of people fired might be reinstated. The CDC has rehired some employees.

The attorneys general in the lawsuit argued that the restructuring was arbitrary and beyond HHS' authority, resulting in the decimation of essential programs and pushing burdensome costs onto states.

“The intended effect … was the wholesale elimination of many HHS programs that are critical to public health and safety,” the lawsuit reads.