Ping Wang
Appearances
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
You know, they're not really clear. They're going back to the office today, and they don't really know who to expect or who they're going to see. That's because over the weekend, around 1,000 people got fired from NIH, around 750 from CDC. Some people are also let go from FDA, though we're not sure how many at this point.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
And I do want to note that those numbers are quite a bit lower than what was expected. We heard some people that told us that they had been told on Friday they were going to lose their jobs but haven't gotten a letter yet.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
And we heard that some of those jobs were saved at the last minute because they were considered essential, but people in leadership say they're really not clear what the criteria was. Do we know who was cut? So we know some were people that were working to ensure medical devices are safe at FDA. Others were diagnosing the causes of outbreaks at CDC, and there were many, many others.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
What they seemed to have in common was that they were mostly probationary employees, so people who are new to the agency or just moved to a different job. They were serving a one- or two-year trial period, and they have fewer worker protections. He spoke with Steve Monroe, a senior official who retired from CDC in 2021. He says it seems short-sighted to just ask the people that are easier to fire.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
He says it's also bad for development and for morale.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
Well, the letters that they received, and we've seen a few of them, they're all very similar. They came from the Department of Health and Human Services, which is the agency that oversees all the health agencies now led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And the letters do say, quote, you are not fit for continued employment with the agency and, quote, your performance has not been adequate.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
It ends their employment on March 14th and says they're going to be put on administrative leave until then. But we know for a fact that many of the people who got this letter had recently received stellar performance reviews from their workplace.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
One from CDC had recently received an award of excellence for their work preventing animals with infectious diseases like rabies from entering the country. It's not clear why these employees were told their performance was inadequate, but many have responded with documentation of their high performance. So where does this leave the agencies? Well, it's been a really confusing and chaotic time.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
Workers say that they feel demoralized, vilified, characterized as lazy by some in the Trump administration, when they and their colleagues say that they work really hard to serve and protect the public. And they see this as just the first wave. They're expecting more cuts, deeper restructuring to come. Even workers with full protections think they could be next.
Up First from NPR
Ukraine Talks, U.S. Health Agency Cuts, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Fallout
You know, they've been canceling their Netflix accounts, reducing retirement contributions to save a little money in case they find themselves fired too.