CDC set to lose quarter of staff with latest layoffs

Layoff notices sent over the weekend to U.S. CDC staff would see the agency lose almost a quarter of its workforce since President Donald Trump took office this year, the union representing them said on Tuesday.



The CDC notified some 1,300 employees they would be laid off on Friday night only to rescind around 700 on Saturday. The Department of Health and Human Services blamed a "coding error" for the notices it said went out mistakenly.



Around 600 employees are still on their way out, with the Trump administration seeking to lay off entire offices and hundreds of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention workers as part of mass job cuts during the federal government shutdown, now in its second week.



The 600 reduction-in-force notices, combined with earlier layoffs and voluntary early retirements, mean that the CDC has lost around 24% of its workforce since January, union officials said on a press call.