Why the turnaround? Sources speculate that the “onslaught of lawsuits” brought against Kennedy for his decision, as one insider described, and the odds that the Trump administration could not have them tossed out of court might have precipitated what amounts to a rebooting of NIOSH.

Employees who had received layoff notices were told that those were "hereby revoked," allowing "life-saving research" to continue, according to a Bloomberg report.

“Based on what we know thus far, each division is currently working to contact staff to confirm that reinstatement notices have been received. Given that it has been more than nine months since the original RIF notifications were issued, it will likely take some time to fully assess the status of personnel across divisions, review priority needs, and functional capacity,” Sloan told ISHN.

According to a January 2026 headcount, about 22% of NIOSH’s staff have retired, resigned, transferred or otherwise left the agency in the past year – 233 employees.

The 600+ reinstatements apply across all NIOSH divisions, including the Office of Extramural Coordination & Special Projects, which funds Educational Research Centers and Training Project Grants. The respirator approval program has been ongoing since Kennedy reinstated the program in May, 2025.

“Time will tell as to what departments/programs are fully functional vs partial,” said Sloan.

We have to rebuild,” Micah Niemeier-Walsh, an American Federation of Government Employees local vice president and NIOSH industrial hygienist in Ohio, told Bloomberg.

Major challenges lie ahead. NIOSH’s fiscal 2026 budget has not been finalized. The impact of permanently losing more than 20% of its workforce and the almost year-long disruption in projects will be assessed throughout 2026. The rehabilitation of NIOSH has begun, and ISHN will track developments as they unfold.