- A recent federal court ruling has temporarily halted the Trump administration’s plan to lay off thousands of federal employees during the ongoing government shutdown. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston issued a preliminary injunction in response to lawsuits filed by federal employee unions, which challenged the administration’s use of permanent reductions in force (RIFs) rather than temporary furloughs.
- Layoffs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been part of a broader restructuring initiative announced in March 2025, titled “HHS Announces Transformation to Make America Healthy Again.” The plan aimed to reduce the department’s workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 full-time employees—a loss of 20,000 positions, split evenly between voluntary departures and forced terminations.
- Attorneys general from nineteen states and the District of Columbia successfully argued that this downsizing violated statutory mandates and constitutional limits on executive power. In July 2025, U.S. District Judge Melissa DuBose issued an injunction against the HHS layoffs, stating that “critical offices were left unable to perform statutory functions.”
- FDA Commissioner Marty Makary assured staff that the agency was “exempted” from the current shutdown-induced layoffs due to its public safety mission and unique funding structure and FDA has retained approximately 86% of its staff during the shutdown primarily due to carryover user fees. Nonetheless, the agency has paused many non-urgent regulatory activities, including food safety initiatives and oversight of compounded drugs, with estimates that delays in functions could be upwards of 3-6 months. FDA is also not accepting new applications, which will likely delay product reviews and approvals.
- Keller and Heckman will continue to monitor developments related to federal agency oversight and operations, including those affecting HHS, FDA, and other key regulatory bodies.