Twenty attorneys general, including the AGs of New York, California, Colorado and Michigan, sued the Trump administration on Monday, May 5, 2025, for its mass firings and the dismantling of agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NBC News and other news services report.

The lawsuit calls on HHS to halt its efforts to dismantle agencies and restore critical programs that have been eliminated. New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office will request a preliminary injunction later this week to temporarily block the Trump administration from making further cuts.

HHS has gutted the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH, an agency that researched, investigated and issued advisories for health issues involving toxic exposures for 55 years.  It has funded Educational Resource Centers across the country and created the Total Worker Health® program that has gained traction in workplaces seeking to improve their worker health and well-being cultures. NIOSH also has run the only federal program to test, approve and certify personal protective equipment, specifically respiratory protection equipment.

The Trump administration has said certain programs such as the World Trade Center Health Program, which covers screening and treatments for 9/11-related illnesses, or the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program, which screens for black lung in miners, will continue through the Administration for a Healthy America. But many NIOSH employees involved with the programs were placed on administrative leave and face impending terminations in June, according to an internal government memo obtained by NBC News. 

A new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) will consolidate the OASH, HRSA, SAMHSA, ATSDR, and NIOSH to coordinate chronic care and disease prevention programs, according to an HHS fact sheet.