NYSNA Joins National Lawsuit Over NIOSH Cuts

The AFL-CIO — along with unions representing workers in healthcare, education, mining and manufacturing industries; the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics; Public Citizen; and a manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) —filed a lawsuit in federal court on May 14, 2025, against the Trump administration-backed Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) massive cuts to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). DOGE fired over 85% of NIOSH employees and ordered most of the remaining staff to dismantle their programs.

Only the World Trade Center Health Program and the Coal Workers’ Health Surveillance Program survived, due to fierce pushback from unions and many congressional representatives as well as court orders. DOGE still reduced the World Trade Center Health Program staff by 24%, and the loss of other NIOSH departments will hamstring these vital programs because they rely on the other departments to function fully.

The lawsuit states that NIOSH’s work is congressionally mandated, making these cuts illegal. It also demands immediate injunctive relief, which means preventing NIOSH’s shutdown while the lawsuit proceeds.

NIOSH Saves Lives
Congress created NIOSH at the same time as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). NIOSH serves as the research arm of OSHA, providing the scientific evidence needed to create OSHA standards. It also addresses many workplace hazards that healthcare workers are exposed to that do not have OSHA standards, including workplace violence, musculoskeletal injuries due to manually moving patients, hazardous drugs, and exposure to disinfecting chemicals and infectious diseases.

As many learned when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, NIOSH is the only agency in the U.S. that certifies respirators, making sure that they meet their claimed protection requirements. NYSNA members and staff were also able to use the NIOSH website to identify counterfeit N95 respirators that employers had provided to healthcare staff. NIOSH’s National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory regularly tests all types of PPE and supports PPE innovation to improve PPE for the 20 million U.S. workers who use it to stay safe at work.

NIOSH also runs multiple health studies and surveillance programs for workers, such as the firefighters’ cancer registry, mine workers’ black lung, energy workers’ exposure to radiation and the World Trade Center Health Program.

NIOSH not only conducts its own extensive research, but it is also responsible for funding the research of other scientists and research organizations. No other entity is as responsible for studies on worker safety and health as NIOSH.

In addition to these many responsibilities, Congress mandated NIOSH to conduct health hazard evaluations (HHEs). Workers, their representatives and their managers can request NIOSH specialists to come to the worksite to identify hazardous conditions and make recommendations to improve safety. NIOSH has conducted almost 17,000 HHEs since the agency’s inception, and HHE findings are available for all to review, making its findings a useful tool for similar worksites.

The Fight for Health and Safety Continues
In addition to this lawsuit, 20 state attorney generals, including New York State Attorney General Letitia James, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for these devastating cuts. Stay tuned for further information as these suits move through the courts.

“Millions of workers, including nurses and our healthcare colleagues in hospitals across the country, rely on the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to help keep us safe at work. Trying to destroy agencies like this makes clear the current administration doesn’t care about working people, aligning them with the hospital industry. Our recent experience during the pandemic demonstrated that healthcare executives can’t be trusted to keep us and our patients safe, which is why we are fighting to reinstate NIOSH.” 
– Nancy Hagens, RN, BSN, CCRN, president of NYSNA and NNU

Each year, more than 5,000 workers die from injuries on the job, and 135,000 workers die from occupational disease.

Source: “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect,” AFL-CIO 2025.