After previously firing them, the Food and Drug Administration is looking to rehire employees who go after retailers who illegally sell tobacco to minors, Politico said.
Senior FDA officials asked the employees to temporarily return after the agency realized it lacked the ability to penalize retailers that sell cigarettes to minors, four federal health officials told Politico.
The terminated employees have been asked to return from leave and help maintain continuity until their formal termination in June, Politico said. More than two dozen staffers had agreed to return over fear of losing severance benefits, Politico reported.
More than 10,000 employees were terminated after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy took office.
Prior to the employees being axed, the FDA filed more than 100 complaints a week against retailers seeking civil penalties, Politico reported. The work has ground to a halt since the employees were fired on April 1.
"You could not have done a better job of eliminating tobacco enforcement than by doing this," an official told Politico. "It was the perfect pinpoint strike."
The officials are concerned that a lack of enforcement could lead to tobacco use among children rising. Tobacco use among middle and high school students hit its lowest point in 25 years in 2024, the National Youth Tobacco Survey said.
"It's a prescription for allowing retailers to roll the dice and sell to minors with less concern that they will ever be caught," Mitch Zeller, who ran the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products for nearly a decade before retiring in 2022, said to Politico. "Everybody agrees that retailers should not sell to minors — it doesn't get any more red, white and blue than this program."
A spokesperson for HHS, Andrew Nixon, told Politico all laid-off employees may be asked to work temporarily until their employment formally ends.
"This decision is focused on ensuring that the transition is as seamless as possible, minimizing any disruption to the agency's mission and operations," Nixon said. "HHS fully supports this approach, which aims to maintain public health services while managing the reorganization process effectively."
The returning employees are not likely to be rehired, Politico said. Since the Center for Tobacco Fees is funded through user fees, the terminations won't save taxpayers money but instead might cost money, since they won't be collecting as many fines, officials told Politico.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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