The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reinstated dozens of employees who oversee the safety of food and life-sustaining medical devices. The move comes just days after the staff was fired by the Trump administration as part of efforts to downsize the federal government.
According to over a dozen workers, many of whom were called back to work on Monday, nearly all of the 180 medical division employees who were laid off will get their jobs back. Those who returned reported feeling a sense of relief after being told they had been fired due to “inadequate performance.”
However, some employees said that their job reviews from the agency had been excellent, and that the decision to fire them was unfair. The FDA did not comment on the reasons behind the staff cuts.
The move has sparked concerns about the impact on food safety and medical device review. Many of the jobs involved reviewing applications for new tobacco products, studying the safety of emerging devices, and assessing food-chemical safety.
Industry groups had pushed the administration to ensure that workers in these roles got their jobs back. The industry’s funds are used to hire experts, including doctors who use the devices being reviewed.
The FDA Commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, had previously criticized the staff cuts as “anti-efficiency” and a sign of immaturity towards employees. He described the decision to fire workers without regard for their well-being as “despicable”.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/24/science/fda-safety-workers-reinstated.html