Fired CDC workers' fates hang in the balance after week of chaos

After 1,300 CDC employees were laid off week, around half of those terminations were rescinded. Then a judge blocked the Trump administration's shutdown cuts.

After a week of chaos and confusion, as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employees described it, the fates of more than 600 workers hang in the balance now that a federal judge has temporarily blocked their terminations.

The saga began on Friday, when around 1,300 employees at the CDC were told they had been let go. Less than a day later, around 700 of them were told that they had received the notices in error. The rest seemed to be out of a job until Wednesday, when the judge ordered the Trump administration not to fire any additional workers during the government shutdown, and not to enforce the terminations carried out since last week.

All this has played out while many CDC employees remain furloughed.

The Trump administration did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment on the ruling, which came in response to a lawsuit filed by two labor unions representing federal employees. A hearing is scheduled for later this month.

The more than 600 CDC employees whose firings were not rescinded include some staffers who managed the agency’s chronic disease programs — a research area Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to prioritize — as well as others who worked on a key survey measuring the health and nutrition of the U.S. population, according to a union representing CDC workers, an advocacy group of former agency staffers, and several current and former employees familiar with the matter. The group also includes some mental health professionals within the agency who had supported staff after the August shooting at CDC headquarters.