(Reuters) -At least 600 employees of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are receiving permanent termination notices, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, citing the American Federation of Government Employees.
The report added that the notices were sent out this week, and many employees have not yet received them, according to the employees’ union, which represents more than 2,000 dues-paying members at the agency.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services confirmed the terminations but did not disclose the number of employees affected. The union did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Trump administration began mass layoffs of 10,000 staffers at U.S. health agencies in April, as part of a sweeping overhaul aimed at shrinking the federal government and reducing spending.
A federal judge last week issued a preliminary ruling that protected employees in several parts of the CDC, including those dealing with sexually transmitted diseases, reproductive health, environmental health and birth defects, among others.
However, the ruling did not protect other CDC employees, and layoffs are being finalized across other parts of the agency, including the freedom of information office, the AP report added.
“Due to a staggering lack of transparency from HHS, AFGE Local 2883 has not received formal notice of which groups are being separated today so we can’t even determine the full extent of everything being lost,” the union said in a blog post.
The AP report added that the affected projects included work to prevent rape, child abuse and teen dating violence. The laid-off staff included individuals who had assisted other countries in tracking violence against children.
The permanent cuts also affected about 100 people who worked in violence prevention, AP reported.
Earlier this month, a shooting at CDC buildings in Atlanta left a police officer and the gunman dead.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
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