HHS layoffs were likely unlawful and must be halted, US judge says

Executive branch doesn't have authority to change agencies created by Congress.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- A federal judge has ruled that recent mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were likely unlawful and ordered the Trump administration to halt plans to downsize and reorganize the nation's health workforce.

U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose granted the preliminary injunction sought by a coalition of attorneys general from 19 states and the District of Columbia in a lawsuit filed in early May.

DuBose said the states had shown “irreparable harm,” from the cuts 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 handed down in U.S. district court in Providence.

Her order blocks the Trump administration from finalizing layoffs announced in March or issuing any further firings. HHS is directed to file a status report by July 11.

The ruling applies to terminated employees in four different divisions of HHS: the U.S. 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 employees of regional offices who work on Head Start matters; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. eliminated more than 10,000 employees in late March and consolidated 28 agencies to 15. Since then, agencies including the CDC have repeatedly rescinded layoffs affecting hundreds of employees, including in branches that monitor HIV, hepatitis and other diseases.

The attorneys general argued that the massive restructuring was arbitrary and outside of the scope of the agency's authority. The lawsuit also says the action decimated essential programs and pushed 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 argued.

The cuts are part of a federal “Make America Healthy Again” directive to streamline costly agencies and reduce redundancies. Kennedy told senators at a May 14 hearing that there is “so much chaos and disorganization" at HHS.

But the restructuring had eliminated key teams that regulate food safety and drugs, as well as support a wide range of programs for tobacco, HIV prevention and maternal and infant health. Kennedy has since said that because of mistakes, 20% of people fired might be reinstated.

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