Some Federal Job Cuts In Morgantown Reversed, For Now

Some federal job cuts affecting coal miner safety and health have been reversed, but only temporarily.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito said Tuesday that “select staff” at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health would return to work this week.

“Based on conversations I’ve had with folks on the ground in Morgantown and at @CDCgov, I am encouraged that some NIOSH functions for coal miner and firefighter safety are slated to resume with some select staff returning to work this week,” Capito said in an X post on Tuesday.

After the Department of Health and Human Services eliminated about 200 positions at the agency in Morgantown earlier this month, the Senator said she strongly disagreed with the NIOSH cuts, and said she would request the rehiring of some workers.

Among other things, NIOSH researches black lung, a respiratory disease that affects 1 in 5 coal miners in central Appalachia. It also provides black lung screenings for miners.

Capito made a direct appeal to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reverse the cuts. She voted to confirm Kennedy as secretary earlier this year.

She didn’t say how many workers would get their jobs back or how long the reprieve would last.

Agency workers and their supporters protested the cuts last week.