A district judge in West Virginia on Tuesday halted the Trump administration’s plan to fire federal workers and dismantle programs dedicated to studying and screening for debilitating diseases like black lung in coal miners.
Judge Irene Berger, an Obama appointee, granted a preliminary injunction and halted the Department of Health and Human Services’ firing of workers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH — which lost more than 90 percent of its workforce — working on screening miners for deadly respiratory diseases.
The order was part of a broader suite of ongoing legal fights, including a lawsuit that coal miners filed against the federal government for shuttering the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, a department that falls under the umbrella of NIOSH’s Respiratory Health Division. NIOSH workers told the court they received “reduction in force” notices in early April and May that included a June 2 termination date.
Despite growing political backlash, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has moved to lay off thousands of employees across HHS, arguing there is duplication and the agency is bloated.
