The Trump administration reversed course on layoff notifications for hundreds of employees at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that were sent in error, The New York Times first reported.“The employees who received incorrect notifications were never separated from the agency and have all been notified that they are not subject to the reduction in force,” Andrew Nixon, director of communications for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told CNN.The layoff notices were originally sent to some 1,300 workers at the CDC, but 700 of those were errors, according to CNN. About 600 CDC staff members were still laid off.The dismissals come after multiple senior CDC officials resigned in August, following the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, and as measles cases continue to pop up across the country.The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 700 of the layoff notices it sent to employees Friday were errors.Brynn Anderson via Associated PressNational President Everett Kelley of the American Federation of Government Employees, a labor union representing more than 800,000 federal workers, condemned the mass firings on Friday, calling them illegal.“It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country,” Kelley said in a statement.AFGE filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday. According to a court filing, the Trump administration has fired more than 4,000 federal workers amid the government shutdown. (The lawsuit was filed before the layoffs were rescinded on Saturday.)“These workers show up every day to serve the American people, and for the past nine months have been met with nothing but cruelty and viciousness from President Trump. Every single American citizen should be outraged,” Kelley said. “Federal workers are tired of being used as pawns for the political and personal gains of the elected and un-elected leaders. It’s time for Congress to do their jobs and negotiate an end to this shutdown immediately.”Vice President JD Vance blamed the CDC layoff error on Democrats, as the government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, continues.“That chaos is because [Chuck] Schumer and the far-left Democrats shut down the government,” Vance said Sunday on “Face the Nation With Margaret Brennan.”“So you ask, how does this mistake happen? It happened because Chuck Schumer shut down the government, and we’re trying to make sure that essential services still function in the face of that shutdown,” Vance said.Trump declared Friday that he plans to target “a lot” of “Democrat-oriented” workers with layoffs because of the shutdown. It’s not clear how the administration will deem what departments or workers are “Democrat-oriented.”HHS did not respond Sunday to a HuffPost request for additional comment.Close