Latest news with #RIF
Politico
12 hours ago
- Business
- Politico
Health RIFs under fire
Presented by Driving The Day NEW FILING ON FIRINGS — Fired HHS employees allege in a new lawsuit that DOGE used personnel records that were 'hopelessly error-ridden' and contained 'systemic inaccuracies' when deciding who to let go amid the agency's mass reorganization, POLITICO's Daniel Barnes and Lauren Gardner report. Those errors included incorrect performance ratings, job locations and job descriptions, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington federal court Tuesday by seven terminated employees. HHS has previously blamed the incorrect data on the agency's 'multiple, siloed HR division.' Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has acknowledged mistakes were made during the cuts and that some employees will be reinstated. 'It is, of course, little solace to these plaintiffs that they were fired because of 'siloed' recordkeeping,' lawyers Clayton Bailey and Jessica Samuels write in the lawsuit. 'Nor is it any comfort to know that many of them had been fired by 'mistake.' For these plaintiffs, HHS's intentional failure to maintain complete and accurate records before making life-changing employment decisions was a clear violation of the law.' HHS declined to comment. Why it matters: The new lawsuit comes as questions remain over President Donald Trump's ability to order widespread cuts at multiple government agencies. HHS has paused action on the reduction in force amid separate litigation. POLITICO previously detailed some errors HHS employees saw in their RIF notices, mistakes that could affect terminated employees' ability to receive appropriate compensation for their years of federal service and to access stopgap health care. Key context: The lawsuit also claims that the HHS layoffs were driven by a 'deep-seated animus toward federal workers.' 'Politics aside, this is no way to treat civil servants who have dedicated their careers to public health and safety,' Samuels said in a news release. 'These employees are entitled to some basic level of respect and fairness, just like anyone else.' The plaintiffs seek unspecified monetary damages for all HHS employees who were terminated on April 1 and whose RIF notice contained incorrect information. The exact number of terminated employees that would fall into that class isn't immediately clear, but the lawsuit estimates it to be most of the 10,000 employees subject to the April 1 RIF. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. Senate Republicans plan to meet today to talk through their plans and priorities for the 'big, beautiful' bill. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to khooper@ and follow along @Kelhoops. Abortion STRIPPING EMERGENCY GUIDANCE — The Trump administration rescinded on Tuesday Biden-era guidance that assured health care providers are protected by a federal law when performing abortions in emergency cases, regardless of state bans on the procedure. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced the change, saying the guidance — issued in July 2022 — doesn't reflect the policy of the Trump administration. The agency said it would continue to enforce the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, the federal law that mandates all patients have access to care at hospital emergency departments. 'CMS will work to rectify any perceived legal confusion and instability created by the former administration's actions,' the agency said in a statement. Why it matters: Project 2025, a set of policy positions published by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, encouraged the Trump administration to rescind the guidance and also called on President Donald Trump to end all the Biden administration's EMTALA investigations into hospitals that have turned pregnant patients away. In March, the Trump administration dropped a yearslong legal battle with Idaho over the right to an abortion in a medical emergency. Abortion-rights advocates argue that ambiguous language in state bans impedes access to emergency abortion care because doctors fear their interventions might be considered abortions in violation of the state law. Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, some women have died after being unable to access legal emergency abortion care in their states. 'The Trump administration cannot simply erase four decades of law protecting patients' lives with the stroke of a pen,' Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, deputy director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, said in a news release. 'Regardless of where they live, pregnant patients have a right to emergency abortion care that will save their health or lives.' At the Agencies FDA STAFF WARY — Top FDA officials are touting the agency-wide launch of a general-purpose chatbot aimed at boosting the performance of every employee — but FDA staff isn't so sure about the change, POLITICO's Ruth Reader reports. FDA chief AI officer Jeremy Walsh and Commissioner Marty Makary are framing the new chatbot, Elsa, as the beginning of an artificial intelligence-driven transformation that will accelerate drug and device reviews. But two current and two former agency employees told POLITICO the bot is at best an advanced search engine and prone to mistakes. It's a long way from speeding up drug and device reviews, they said. 'We have no evidence that it actually shortens anything. We have no evidence that it does any of the things that they say it does,' one of the two current staffers granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters told POLITICO. Background: Elsa is based on a general-use chatbot that was originally developed by the agency's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. The bot was designed to help staff draft emails, brainstorm ideas and quickly summarize articles. HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon told POLITICO that synthesizing and summarizing data will cut down on the time it takes to review the devices and drugs that need FDA approval. The agency plan to roll out the tool across the agency over a week in April was disrupted when the Trump administration downsized the FDA and laid off top tech staff, then brought in personnel to lead AI efforts, according to the current and former staff members with knowledge of the plans. The FDA staffers said Trump's new hires have tried to seize on the agency's preexisting efforts to test AI tools by putting all of them into Elsa. In Congress SUPPORT ACT VOTE — The House faces a contentious vote Wednesday to reauthorize landmark anti-opioid legislation, with many Democrats planning to oppose a bill even though they agree with what's in it, POLITICO's Carmen Paun reports. The SUPPORT Act would renew billions in funding to fight opioid abuse, especially synthetic fentanyl, which claims tens of thousands of American lives annually. The House passed the original SUPPORT Act by a vote of 393-8 in 2018 before President Donald Trump signed it into law. The law expired nearly two years ago, during Joe Biden's presidency, but Congress has continued to provide funding for its programs. Democrats who plan to vote no say it's because they oppose the Trump administration's funding cuts for substance use disorder and mental health and its plan to reorganize the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Republicans likely will support it unanimously, or nearly so, and the bill is likely to pass. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), the bill's sponsor and chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, says SAMHSA staff cuts haven't affected SUPPORT Act programs, and he'll fight for the programs' continuation. A spokesperson for Guthrie did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Why it matters: The Democrats' reluctance to support legislation they agree with shows how much the cuts by the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency, led until recently by Elon Musk, are hindering Congress from advancing bipartisan health care policy. If the House passes the bill, it moves to the Senate, where the health panel hasn't yet considered it, though Guthrie said Tuesday, '[T]he Senate is ready to act. MUSK SPEAKS OUT — Elon Musk ruffled some Republican feathers on Tuesday, taking to his social platform X to torch the GOP's 'big, beautiful bill.' The former head of President Donald Trump's DOGE slammed the reconciliation package as a 'disgusting abomination.' 'I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore,' Musk wrote. 'This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.' House Speaker Mike Johnson said Musk was 'terribly wrong.' 'With all due respect, my friend Elon is terribly wrong about the 'one big, beautiful bill,'' Johnson told reporters. Johnson said he spoke over the phone with the former DOGE chief for what he described as a friendly conversation of more than 20 minutes Monday about the 'virtues' of the bill. 'And he seemed to understand that,' Johnson added. Names in the News Lexi Branson has returned to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as vice president for health policy. Before Branson's most recent role as deputy vice president of advocacy and strategic alliances at PhRMA, she spent nearly six years at the U.S. Chamber. Marni Gootzit has joined Medicaid Health Plans of America as vice president of communications. She previously served as senior public relations strategist at marketing for Change Co. WHAT WE'RE READING STAT's Simar Bajaj reports on how countries worldwide might adapt to the Trump administration's drastic cuts to HIV/AIDS funding. POLITICO's Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report on a federal judge ordering the Trump administration to maintain gender-affirming care for transgender inmates.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
NIOSH division in charge of screening for miner lung diseases restored
MORGANTOWN, (WBOY) — Several jobs at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown have been officially restored following certification earlier this week that Reductions in Force (RIF) at the institution would not happen. So what's next? On Monday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent out a court document certifying that the RIFs have been rescinded, a move that fully restores the Respiratory Health Division (RHD). This move is in compliance with a court injunction ordered in mid-May as part of a larger case against the cuts. The plaintiff's original suit sought the restoration of RHD, saying that RHD facilitates federally mandated coal miner lung screening programs and job transfer rights. The plaintiff's legal counsel, Samuel Petsonk, told 12 News that even despite this restoration, he is still concerned that NIOSH still doesn't have the ability to perform all of its federally mandated services as well as it did before the RIFs. He added that his office and client are weighing their options. Elderly and disabled residents trapped without functioning elevator in Clarksburg apartment building The rescinded RIFs for RHD accounted for 51 RHD employees, while hundreds of other NIOSH employees were originally impacted. The President of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 3430 Cathy Tinney-Zara, which represents the Morgantown NIOSH office, told 12 News that they were pleased with this rescinding of the RIFs, but that there are components of NIOSH still missing, such as the Health Effects Laboratory Division, which does research focused on evaluating, controlling, and preventing workplace safety and health hazards. Tinney-Zara added that AFGE is waiting for the Supreme Court decision on the broader legality of the federal downsizing. In the statement to 12 News, she said: 'While we await the court's decision, we are ready to return to work and continue our mission of protecting the health and safety of America's workers. We firmly believe that the value we provide to the government, to workers, and to their families will be recognized.' Tinney-Zara added that NIOSH's efforts 'significantly' reduce financial burdens on the federal government by lowering Social Security payments, workers' compensation claims and healthcare expenses. She said that 'by keeping the workforce safer and healthier, we not only save money but also safeguard lives.' You can read the full document certifying the restoration of RHD below. show_multidocsDownload Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Fired HHS employees allege terminations were based on ‘error-ridden' personnel records
Department of Health and Human Services personnel records used by DOGE to determine which employees would be fired as part of deep cuts to the agency were 'hopelessly error-ridden' and contained 'systemic inaccuracies,' according to a new class-action lawsuit. The records reflected lower performance ratings than what employees had actually received and in some cases listed incorrect job locations and job descriptions, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington federal court Tuesday by seven terminated employees. In previous statements, HHS has blamed the incorrect data on the agency's 'multiple, siloed HR division.' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has acknowledged mistakes were made during the cuts and that some employees will have to be reinstated. 'It is, of course, little solace to these plaintiffs that they were fired because of 'siloed' recordkeeping,' lawyers Clayton Bailey and Jessica Samuels write in the lawsuit. 'Nor is it any comfort to know that many of them had been fired by 'mistake.' For these plaintiffs, HHS's intentional failure to maintain complete and accurate records before making life-changing employment decisions was a clear violation of the law.' HHS declined to comment. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages for all HHS employees who were terminated on April 1 and whose reduction-in-force notice contained incorrect information. The exact number of terminated employees that would fall into that class isn't immediately clear, but the lawsuit estimates it to be most of the 10,000 employees subject to the April 1 RIF. The lawsuit also claims that the HHS layoffs were driven by a 'deep-seated animus toward federal workers.' 'On March 31, 2025, a group of DOGE representatives visited an FDA office in Maryland,' Bailey and Samuels write, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency. 'That afternoon, while an FDA employee was heading to her car to leave for the day and alone in the parking garage, a car pulled up near her with its window open. A young man in business attire shouted at her from the car: 'This is DOGE and this is your Last Supper!' He laughed and drove off. The employee was shaken, but didn't understand the incident at the time. She received her RIF notice the next morning.' 'Politics aside, this is no way to treat civil servants who have dedicated their careers to public health and safety,' Samuels said in a press release. 'These employees are entitled to some basic level of respect and fairness, just like anyone else.' HHS has paused action on the RIFs amid separate litigation over President Donald Trump's ability to order widespread cuts at multiple government agencies. POLITICO previously detailed some of the errors HHS employees saw in their RIF notices, mistakes that could affect terminated employees' ability to be appropriately compensated for their years of federal service and to access stopgap health care. Multiple employees' performance ratings were incorrect on their paperwork, two FDA employees granted anonymity to discuss the situation told POLITICO in April. Those scores affect the number of additional 'credit years' federal workers can receive toward their service and, in turn, the amount of severance pay to which they're entitled. One of the people said several staffers had lower numbers listed on their RIF notices than they actually earned. In addition, the human resources contact provided to help affected workers obtain health coverage through COBRA no longer worked at the agency, that person said.
Politico
a day ago
- Business
- Politico
Fired HHS employees allege terminations were based on ‘error-ridden' personnel records
Department of Health and Human Services personnel records used by DOGE to determine which employees would be fired as part of deep cuts to the agency were 'hopelessly error-ridden' and contained 'systemic inaccuracies,' according to a new class-action lawsuit. The records reflected lower performance ratings than what employees had actually received and in some cases listed incorrect job locations and job descriptions, according to the lawsuit filed in Washington federal court Tuesday by seven terminated employees. In previous statements, HHS has blamed the incorrect data on the agency's 'multiple, siloed HR division.' HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has acknowledged mistakes were made during the cuts and that some employees will have to be reinstated. 'It is, of course, little solace to these plaintiffs that they were fired because of 'siloed' recordkeeping,' lawyers Clayton Bailey and Jessica Samuels write in the lawsuit. 'Nor is it any comfort to know that many of them had been fired by 'mistake.' For these plaintiffs, HHS's intentional failure to maintain complete and accurate records before making life-changing employment decisions was a clear violation of the law.' HHS declined to comment. The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages for all HHS employees who were terminated on April 1 and whose reduction-in-force notice contained incorrect information. The exact number of terminated employees that would fall into that class isn't immediately clear, but the lawsuit estimates it to be most of the 10,000 employees subject to the April 1 RIF. The lawsuit also claims that the HHS layoffs were driven by a 'deep-seated animus toward federal workers.' 'On March 31, 2025, a group of DOGE representatives visited an FDA office in Maryland,' Bailey and Samuels write, referring to the Department of Government Efficiency. 'That afternoon, while an FDA employee was heading to her car to leave for the day and alone in the parking garage, a car pulled up near her with its window open. A young man in business attire shouted at her from the car: 'This is DOGE and this is your Last Supper!' He laughed and drove off. The employee was shaken, but didn't understand the incident at the time. She received her RIF notice the next morning.' 'Politics aside, this is no way to treat civil servants who have dedicated their careers to public health and safety,' Samuels said in a press release. 'These employees are entitled to some basic level of respect and fairness, just like anyone else.' HHS has paused action on the RIFs amid separate litigation over President Donald Trump's ability to order widespread cuts at multiple government agencies. POLITICO previously detailed some of the errors HHS employees saw in their RIF notices, mistakes that could affect terminated employees' ability to be appropriately compensated for their years of federal service and to access stopgap health care. Multiple employees' performance ratings were incorrect on their paperwork, two FDA employees granted anonymity to discuss the situation told POLITICO in April. Those scores affect the number of additional 'credit years' federal workers can receive toward their service and, in turn, the amount of severance pay to which they're entitled. One of the people said several staffers had lower numbers listed on their RIF notices than they actually earned. In addition, the human resources contact provided to help affected workers obtain health coverage through COBRA no longer worked at the agency, that person said.
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Business
- Otago Daily Times
Bay's wharf upgrade to stay in long-term plan
The wharf at Jackson Bay could be upgraded. PHOTO: ODT FILES A $4 million upgrade of the Jackson Bay wharf — the only deep-sea port on the West Coast — may be a contender for co-funding with the government. However, councillors remain split over whether more investment is warranted. The road leading into Jackson Bay is also a headache for the Westland District Council, after slips reactivated in November are expected to take years to settle. The future security of the entire Haast-Jackson Bay Rd has been included in a bid to the government's Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF), at its request. It forms part of package of potential investment supporting the wharf as a critical asset. In a recent update to councillors, Mayor Helen Lash said an upgrade of the aged Jackson Bay wharf was originally going to be part of the RIF application put forward with the Hokitika Airport upgrade. "We took it out to eliminate the risk of having the airport turned down ... but [government funding agency] Kanoa have come back and asked us to re-present that." Almost $10m of RIF co-funding was announced for the airport upgrade this year by way of a suspensory loan. If successful, the Jackson Bay project would be secured in the same way. Mrs Lash said the application was now past the second stage of assessment, and they expected to have a decision at the end of June. Letters of support from the fishing industry and community groups had gone in with the application. The $3.9m sought covered a "grand plan" for the wharf to see it was strengthened according to a report paid for by Fiordland Lobster, she said. A fixed crane, launching ramp for recreational fishers and a tolled carpark around the site that Talley's leased from the council was proposed. Mrs Lash said they had also included the Haast-Jackson Bay special purpose road in the funding bid. NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi funding has been secured for the link, which is now dotted with active slips, until 2027. PHOTO: ODT FILES "We have asked it be considered as staying in the picture in all perpetuity, rather than have that challenged, or ... being removed," the mayor said. "It's a big ask and we've been ballsy with the ask but we've got nothing to lose with it." She said the application — done at the "very sudden" request of the government's regional economic development and investment unit Kanoa — also had the support of the National Emergency Management Agency as the only deep-sea port on the Coast. More than 70% of submitters to the council's draft long-term plan backed external investment in the port, largely for the role it would have in a Civil Defence response. The other options offered in the draft plan were closing it, or selling it to a commercial interest. Crs Jane Neale, Steven Gillett and Patrick Phelps voted against any more money being spent on the wharf. Iwi representative Paul Madgwick said any government funding would come with strings attached. "Newsflash: Kanoa are not Santa Claus. They expect a big contribution before they give out any cash." Major safety upgrades, including structural beam and decking repairs on a large section of the pier, were completed with $1m of government funding in 2020. However, outstanding repairs remain. The majority of councillors eventually agreed to leave the wharf upgrade in the long-term plan — subject to shoring up external funding. They could still decide later to potentially sell the wharf. Cr Madgwick said its fate could be out of the council's hands at any time. "God might make that decision for us ... once that slip goes big time." — Hokitika Guardian By Janna Sherman
