Fox News: DOGE lays off 3,600 probationary HHS employees – but retains 4,000

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DOGE lays off 3,600 probationary HHS employees – but retains 4,000

The Department of Government Efficiency has terminated employment for 3,600 probationary Health and Human Services employees, Fox News has learned.......                    ...                        ...FIRST ON FOX: The You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login terminated employment for 3,600 probationary Health and Human Services employees on Friday — but went through a careful process to exclude those who were serving in specialized or critical roles.  ......More than half of the agency's probationary employees were retained. ......The cuts are estimated to save about $600 million in taxpayer dollars annually. ......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login ......Probationary employees who were excluded from layoffs include: ......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login identified critical employees by first considering key functions of HHS — frontline healthcare providers, scientists conducting innovative research, personnel responding to emergencies – followed by employee roles, including work history, background, and job title screenings.   ......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login ......"In many cases where there was a lack of clarity, we worked directly with folks who either knew the employees or knew the work of the division to clarify the exact work they were doing," a You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login official said. ......While the exact process will differ with each federal agency DOGE examines, key functions, specialized responsibilities, and individual roles will be considered for each workforce-cutting analysis. HHS received special attention — especially within the CDC, with meticulous consideration of research functions, lab work, and outbreak surveillance and response. ......You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login is obviously an important goal for the new Secretary, for the President," the official said. "We want to make the government more efficient and want to reduce the size of the federal workforce, but we also want to make sure we're very thoughtful about the critical functions that the government needs to perform." ......Officials said DOGE does not begin any evaluation with any predetermined cost-cutting goal, and there is no official order through which federal agencies are lining up for examination. ......"Typically, contracts and grants are the two main mechanisms the federal government has for dispersing funds," the official told Fox News. "And then we're also thinking about regulations. Every agency is different, but the things we're looking at are pretty similar across every agency." ......Fox News Digital's Greg Norman contributed to this report....

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