Trump administration makes NIH layoffs in RTP official after Supreme Court ruling
.jpg "A sign outside the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.")
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- NIEHS employees in Durham received layoff notices following Supreme Court ruling
- Around 20 to 25 workers at NIH’s RTP campus were officially terminated Monday
- Morale at NIEHS remains low amid layoffs, retirements and deferred resignations
National Institutes of Health employees at the agency’s unique campus in Research Triangle Park were among thousands of federal health workers to receive an email Monday notifying them that their employment would be terminated by the end of the day.
This action came six days after the U.S. Supreme Court lifted a lower court’s ruling that had halted mass layoffs across multiple Health and Human Services divisions.
“Given the Supreme Court’s ruling, HHS is now permitted to move forward with a portion of its RIF,” read part of the July 14 email, reviewed by The News & Observer, which employees at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Durham received. “RIF” stands for “reduction in force.”
“Thank you for your service to the American people,” the email concluded.
NIEHS studies human-environmental reactions to promote public health. Among 27 NIH institutes and centers, it is the only one based outside greater Washington, D.C. NIEHS was an early Research Triangle Park tenant and currently shares a Durham campus with the Environmental Protection Agency.
On April 1, more than 40 NIEHS workers received a RIF notice according to Edith Lee, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 2923. They were part of sweeping layoffs that HHS announced would impact around 10,000 federal staff members.
“This overhaul is about realigning HHS with its core mission: to stop the chronic disease epidemic and Make America Healthy Again,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote at the time on X.
The next day, however, NIH sent a second email to some laid-off employees telling them to return to work. This included roughly 14 NIEHS workers in Durham, Lee says.
“Personnel that should not have been cut, were cut,” Kennedy said in April, according to CBS News.
Morale on the NIEHS campus
Then in late May, U.S. District Judge Susan Illston of California issued a preliminary injunction that halted the overall April 1 HHS layoffs from being finalized. On July 8, the Supreme Court approved the government’s request to stay Illston’s injunction, clearing the way for mass federal layoffs to take effect.
“Can confirm on background that all employees who were originally notified, who aren’t covered under the NY v Kennedy case, and those who haven’t had their notice rescinded have been terminated,” an HHS spokesperson said in an email to The N&O on Monday.
Some of roughly 10,000 health workers are still protected from official layoffs under a separate court case, New York v. Kennedy, but North Carolina is not a plaintiff.
Lee said 25 NIEHS employees in the Triangle were officially laid off on Monday. As of April, the office had around 680 full-time employees, according to internal information Lee has access to as a union leader.
She described morale among remaining workers at the Durham campus as low. In February, the Trump administration laid off around 25 probationary NIEHS workers in an initial step to shrink the size of the federal government. More employees have retired, Lee said, or accepted the “Fork in the Road” deferred resignations.
“Whatever the administration attempted to do concerning morale, they are being successful,” she said. “Many people are depressed, stressed out, and emotions are wearing thin.”
This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 11:11 AM with the headline "Trump administration makes NIH layoffs in RTP official after Supreme Court ruling."
