The Department of Health and Human Services sent reduction-in-force notices to approximately 778 more employees than it originally intended to, a human resources official for the agency said.
The department laid off about 1,760 employees on Oct. 10 when it only intended to send RIF notices to 982 employees, HHS Chief Human Capital Officer Thomas Nagy Jr. said in a court declaration Tuesday.
“Employees have been working since October 10, 2025, to rescind the notices that had been issued in error. The final number of RIF notices that have been issued to HHS employees is 982,” Nagy wrote.
Nagy’s statement came after news broke on Friday of the Trump administration’s reduction-in-force measures in response to the government shutdown, which included dozens of officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The RIF notices, which came from Nagy, say the decision “does not reflect directly on your service, performance or conduct,” according to the New York Times.
“The employees who received incorrect notifications were never separated from the agency and have all been notified that they are not subject to the reduction in force. All HHS employees receiving reduction-in-force notices were designated non-essential by their respective divisions,” an HHS spokesperson said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
Nagy did not specify in the court declaration which employees’ notices were rescinded. The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which is a plaintiff in the lawsuit against the RIFs, took to X on Tuesday evening.
“Firing CDC workers then scrambling to reinstate them while still firing others is creating chaos in workers’ lives and putting communities across the country in danger. Fund the government. Fix the health care crisis. Put working people first,” the AFL-CIO wrote on X.
President Donald Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russel Vought had been warning of layoffs in the event of a government shutdown since the lapse in funding became a real possibility for Congress in the final days of September. Trump met with Vought about potential federal worker layoffs on Oct. 2, and the RIFs began eight days later.
“I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent. I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump added on Friday that the layoffs Vought authorized were “Democrat-oriented.”
The unions, which initially filed a lawsuit against the administration over the possible reduction-in-force measures in September due to the impending shutdown, filed a supplemental temporary restraining order motion on Oct. 10 once the layoffs were announced. Unions such as the American Federation of Government Employees and the AFL-CIO are plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WORKER LAYOFFS HAVE BEGUN
“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. “AFGE is currently challenging President Trump’s illegal, unprecedented, abuse of power and we will not stop fighting until every reduction-in-force notice is rescinded.”
The AFGE and AFL-CIO did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.