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RFK Jr. complies with preliminary injunction restoring jobs at Morgantown NIOSH

Scott Laney, right, of Morgantown, W.Va., holds a sign during a rally Wednesday, April 23, 2025, in support of some 185 researchers and other employees of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, W.Va., who received reduction-in-force notices as part of a larger push by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to dismiss 10,000 federal employees. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

CHARLESTON — Meeting a court-ordered deadline, attorneys for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services stated the department has complied with a preliminary injunction ordering jobs restored at the Morgantown offices of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

In a filing Monday afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia, attorneys for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed that reductions in force within the NIOSH division responsible for miners’ respiratory health have been reversed to fully restore its functions. They also assured the court that any future restructuring will not interrupt the vital health services mandated by law for miners.

“The Reductions in Force (RIFs) in the Respiratory Health Division (‘RHD’) of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (‘NIOSH’) have been rescinded to facilitate the full restoration of the RHD, including the health surveillance through the Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program and the Part 90 job transfer program,” wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Westfall.

“In the event of the reorganization of the RHD, the Department of Health and Human Services will comply with the Court’s Order … and there will be no pause, stoppage, or gap in the protections and services mandated to be performed by the RHD by Congress in the Mine Act and the attendant regulations for the health and safety of miners,” Westfall continued.

U.S. District Judge Irene Berger issued a preliminary injunction on May 13 on behalf of Harry Wiley, a retired coal miner from Kanawha County, ordering reductions in force for the NIOSH Respiratory Health Division be halted and employees reinstated. HHS was ordered to provide a certification that it was complying with the court order by Monday.

Kennedy began his reductions in force at NIOSH and other HHS agencies and programs on April 1. Approximately 200 jobs would be eliminated at the Morgantown office as part of a nationwide reduction of approximately 2,400 NIOSH jobs.

NIOSH, an agency which reports to the CDC, conducts research into workplace-related injuries and illnesses. In Morgantown, NIOSH conducts research on coal-related health issues, such as respiratory diseases like black lung, traumatic mine injuries and coal mine safety.

Miners can participate in black lung screening programs offered through employers that are submitted to NIOSH, and underground coal mine operators either offer NIOSH-approved medical exams or provide written notice of arrangements for medical examinations made by NIOSH. Miners can also submit an application to the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program providing evidence of black lung at their own expense, which Wiley did last November.

Attached to Monday’s filing was a sworn declaration from NIOSH Director John Howard. In that declaration, Howard said while RIF notices were initially issued to many employees in April, including most RHD staff, HHS began revoking these notices before a court order and a preliminary injunction further stayed the RIF process.

“HHS determined that the RIF notices for more than 300 NIOSH employees, which included 50 RHD employees, should be revoked,” Howard said. “HHS provided a RIF revocation notice to these employees via email on May 13, 2025, that they were no longer subject to the RIF.”

NIOSH is now working to fully restore RHD operations, including re-establishing contracts with the physicians who classify chest x-rays for the CWHSP, x-ray maintenance; resuming external communications with stakeholders, like miners and mine operators; and ensuring the ability to efficiently use funds to carry out its responsibilities under the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act.

“After NIOSH RHD employees received notices that their RIF notices were revoked, NIOSH removed a banner from its website saying the CWHSP is paused, and the Program is again accepting submission of chest X-rays and spirometry tests and ‘other information’ such as the most recent information Mr. Wiley provided to the program,” Howard said.

HHS filed a reply on May 23 in support of a motion to dismiss Wiley’s lawsuit, arguing that since CWHSP has resumed operations and the plaintiff has now been able to submit additional medical evidence, the injury he initially claimed no longer exists.

Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com.

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