CDC Reversals: Staff Asked to Return After Mistaken Dismissals

On October 11 and 12, 2025, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experienced a sweeping wave of personnel notices as part of a broader federal workforce reduction during a government shutdown. Estimates of the scope varied: some accounts described dozens of employees being cut, while others said more than 1,000 staff received layoff notices. Agency administrators later moved to reverse certain termination emails that had been sent in error, and internal messages identified a coding error as one cause of mistaken dismissals.

Among the teams affected were trainees and scientists who work on outbreak response and public health reporting, including fellows in training programs and staff who support the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and global health operations. The reversals included members of the Laboratory Leadership Service and officers from the Epidemic Intelligence Service, whose specialized skills are central to infectious disease detection and investigation. Staff who were contacted were asked to return under their previous schedules, though many remain unsettled by the rapid personnel shifts.

Earlier in 2025, the agency had instituted a similar reversal when an internal communication cleared some employees to return on March 5, 2025. Labor unions have mounted legal challenges to parts of the wider layoff plan, and public health leaders have expressed alarm that abrupt staffing changes could weaken outbreak response. While agencies continue administrative reviews, the episode has underscored how fragile institutional capacity can become when personnel systems are disrupted.

The episodes have prompted calls for clearer personnel procedures and better safeguards to prevent technical mistakes that remove critical staff. Protecting training programs is seen as crucial to maintain outbreak detection capacity.