The workers were laid off earlier this year as part of restructuring efforts.
A West Virginia federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to reverse the terminations of nearly 200 workers who oversee a health monitoring program for coal miners after they were laid off last month.
Judge Irene C. Berger of the District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia granted a preliminary injunction compelling HHS to restore all personnel to the Respiratory Health Division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Workers in the division are responsible for screening and reviewing medical examinations submitted by outside providers to determine whether there is evidence that miners have developed a respiratory ailment called pneumoconiosis, more commonly known as black lung disease.
“Testing for, diagnosing, preventing, and researching black lung is a highly specialized field—it simply is not possible to transfer the duties of the RHD employees to others without a period of transition and training,” the judge wrote in her ruling.
“Losing the services of these experienced and dedicated employees is an aspect of the irreparable harm to the miners and the public that cannot and should not be ignored.”
Berger ordered HHS to continue its Coal Workers Health Surveillance Program within NIOSH after finding the department lacked the authority to “unilaterally cancel” it.
Additionally, the judge ordered the restoration of a program called Part 90, which allows miners who present evidence of pneumoconiosis to transfer to less dusty jobs, without a reduction in pay, to protect them from continued exposure.
Berger’s decision comes after nearly 200 workers at the NIOSH facility were placed on administrative leave in April as part of restructuring within HHS. It’s part of wider cost-cutting efforts by the Trump administration that have seen thousands of federal employees across various departments laid off.
Berger did not specify in her order exactly how many of the jobs must be restored within the health division.
