HHS reverses NIOSH's shots that stripped the health protections of coal miners

HHS reverses NIOSH’s shots that stripped the health protections of coal miners

The Department of Human Health and Services revoked on Tuesday the layoffs of more than 100 federal employees with the National Institute of Occupational Health and Health, the Federal Institute that helps protect coal miners from black lungs, according to Republican senator Shelley Moore Capito.

Approximately 200 employees of the NIOSH office in Morgantown, Western Virginia, were placed on administrative license in April and reported that they would be formally fired in June. Some were temporarily brought back about two weeks ago, but until Tuesday they were told that they would still be fired next month.

In a letter sent on Tuesday, a copy of which ABC News obtained, HHS said: “He previously received a notice about the next RIF of the next reduction of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). That notice is revoked. It will not be affected by the next RIF.”

The measure occurs after Capito’s public pressure, and follows a series of ABC news reports that detail the impact that the shots would have on black pulmonary medical care programs for coal miners.

Capito, announcing the reversions in X, said: “The health and safety of our WV workers, including our miners, is the most important and always advocate for their well -being.”

Critics said the initial layoffs, part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government, denied their vote to revitalize the coal industry of the United States.

NIOSH has offices in several other states that cover a variety of problems, from the safety of vehicles to the medical fire care. It is not clear if the employees in those offices were also hired.

In this file photo of July 21, 2007, the building of the Department of Health and Human Services of the United States is shown in Washington, DC

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images, Archive

ABC News contacted HHS to comment.

The announcement occurred only a few hours before a federal judge ordered the secretary of HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Losing the services of these experienced and dedicated employees is an aspect of irreparable damage to miners and the public who cannot and should not be ignored,” wrote the American district judge Irene Berger in their order on Tuesday.

It was not clear immediately if the ruling had something to do with the Trump administration decision to restore workers on Tuesday.

Judge Berger’s ruling occurred after a coal veteran named Henry Wiley, in April, questioned the elimination of the Trump administration of NIOSH employees, arguing that the endings put him in danger to him and other miners.

The judge wrote on Tuesday that Wiley and a handful of NIOSH officials who testified at a hearing last week persuaded her of the importance of the NIOSH health detection program and an exemption called part 90, which allows miners with black pulmonary disease at an early stage that were transferred to roles outside the mines.

If NIOSH’s layoffs were allowed to advance, Berger wrote: “Thousands of miners will leave without evaluating the black lung, and those with black lung will be deprived of access to the transfer option of part 90.”

Berger referred to Kennedy directly, writing: “Did the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services genuinely believe that a miner diagnosed with black lung is not being injured when the program designed to confirm its condition and provide protections in the workplace to avoid its inaccessible progression? This court does not share such belief.”

Berger ordered the Trump administration to grant “the complete restoration of the NIOSH respiratory health division, a termination of the [reduction in force letters]and convincing continuous health surveillance “through the health surveillance program and part 90.

He gave Kennedy three weeks to inform in writing when the orders of the court have been fulfilled.

In a statement to ABC News, the lawyer of the plaintiffs Sam Petsonk said: “This opinion gives life to our fundamental principles of judicial review, which allows common citizens as these coal miners to defend their rights.”

“We are happy to see that the administration has already taken some initial steps in the direction of complying with the order. The coal miners of the United States deserve nothing less, and in fact they deserve much more,” said Petsonk.

An HHS spokesman told ABC News that Kennedy has been working hard to maintain NIOSH’s critical functions as HHS speeds up its operations, and that the Trump administration is committed to supporting coal miners and firefighters.

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