About a dozen people ultimately lost their jobs this week at the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility in Manhattan after federal officials made cuts and then tried to rehire some employees, a USDA spokesperson said in a statement.
The Mercury earlier this week reported that according to a source, at least 28 people at NBAF had been notified by email that they had lost their jobs. The email said the decision was related to job performance, but it seems they were part of the nationwide federal workforce reductions by the Trump administration.
The USDA subsequently announced it was rehiring some employees who were working on the federal government’s response to the avian influenza outbreak spreading across the United States, as well as other employees whose jobs are deemed critical.