MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A scientist who lost his job at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health office in Morgantown believes recent cuts eliminated nearly all of the agency, leaving just a small number of people behind.
The jobs were cut last as part of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) cutbacks from the Trump administration.
Kyle Mandler worked as a pulmonary toxicologist for the last seven years. Mandler conducted studies on fryable particles in the workplace and was most recently studying engineered stone, the source of a deadly disease called silicosis.
Mandler said at 5 a.m. On Monday, March 28 workers across all NIOSH locations received the email that their jobs were either duplicative or not needed and were let go. In most cases the final day of employment for the workers will be June 30.
“As best as I can tell, the total number of firings was between 1,300 and 1,400 out of 1,500 employees, so well over 90 percent,” Mandler said Tuesday on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
Mandler said, in addition to contractors looking after the test animals, a crew of about 10 remains in the building. AFGE Local 3430 President Cathy Tinney Zara told MetroNews the workers from the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program were in the building but had no resources or direction to be productive.
“The folks that are there haven’t gotten any instructions from anyone,” Mandler said. “I don’t think there is anyone to give them instructions, and I’m not sure why they were spared; there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason.”
The email received early that Monday told the employees they no longer had building access; however, Mandler was able to retrieve his personal items and say goodbye to coworkers when he picked up his personal items. While the employees were exiting at a rapid clip, there were no provisions made for millions and millions of dollars worth of experiments and research in the Morgantown office.
“There was no plan for continuity of service; there was no plan to secure and centralize data,” Mandler said. “So, it’s all lost—nothing will come from any of that.”
After the exit of the Biden administration, the employees of the agency felt increasingly isolated and were not allowed to perform their day-to-day work. Despite the conditions, Mandler said they continued to do what they could.
“Since January 21, we haven’t been allowed to order any supplies, we haven’t been allowed to communicate with outside partners, or publish anything,” Mandler said. “We were trying to do the best we could with what we had.”
Mandler, married with a child on the way, has been looking for opportunities in his field as a scientist. He remains hopeful but acknowledges thousands of others with the same skill set are sending their information to the same companies.
“Unfortunately, with layoffs of this size, 10,000 across DHHS and thousands more from academia, there are now a lot of scientists looking for work, and there just aren’t that many positions available,” Mandler said.
The agency has a budget of about $360 million that breaks down to a cost of a little more than $2 per worker, while workplace injuries cost the country $250 billion per year, totaling about $1,500 per year.