STAT+: We employ you, we employ you not: Fired probationary CDC employees living in a surreal limbo
“It’s like we're in a toxic relationship with our employer”: Fired probationary CDC employees are getting mixed messages about their status.
On Wednesday, as S. was heading to the library to apply for yet more jobs, an email pinged onto her phone. The subject line said, “Read this immediately” — the same as in February, when she was notified she would be fired from her job at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“In accordance with the Temporary Restraining Order issued related to probationary employees, your administrative leave is being extended through Friday, March 21st. Should there be any changes in your status, we will update you at that time,” the latest email said, according to a copy CDC employees shared with STAT.
Friday, March 21, was two days away. The email felt, S. said, “like another slap in the face” — yet another moment, in the wake of mass federal firings, when the government was providing more confusion than clarity. Technically, the email didn’t necessarily contradict what an official from the CDC’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, had stated Monday in a court filing, about employees being maintained on administrative leave “with no set end date.” Through Friday does not mean the same thing as until Friday. But she wished that she were doing her job — helping schools and hospitals understand infectious disease risks — rather than anxiously trying to parse such fiddly semantics.
