The U.S. Capitol Building is seen on December 2, 2024 in Washington, D.C.
Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America
conceal caption
toggle caption
Samuel Corum/Getty Images North America
The high Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is demanding solutions from Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about why workers fired from his division had been denied well being care protection they’d already paid for.
“I urge you to take speedy motion to treatment the monetary and bodily damage completed to workers who had their well being protection illegally cancelled,” wrote Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, appearing rating member of the committee, in a letter to Lutnick. “I additionally request details about how you’re guaranteeing that such abuse of workers by no means happens once more.”
The letter, despatched to Lutnick on Wednesday, follows reporting by NPR that Commerce Department workers who had been fired, reinstated by court docket order, and fired once more had had their well being care protection prematurely minimize off. They had been left uninsured – even if they’d been paying their well being care premiums by way of paycheck deductions, and regardless of the federal authorities’s coverage to supply 31 days of free well being care protection after an worker is terminated.
“Commerce’s failure to fulfill its well being care obligations to its workers raises issues about whether or not different types of owed compensation, comparable to fee for earned go away and credit score hours, are being denied,” Lynch wrote.
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick delivers remarks on the U.S. Capitol on April 23, 2025 in Washington, D.C.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America
conceal caption
toggle caption
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images North America
Fired, briefly reinstated, and fired once more
Those affected had been all thought of probationary workers, sometimes more moderen hires though many had years of expertise of their fields. The Commerce Department fired practically 800 of them in late February and early March as a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to quickly downsize the federal workforce. At the time, some workers had been instructed their well being advantages would finish after a 31-day grace interval.
But states sued over their sudden terminations, and in mid-March, a federal decide in Maryland discovered that their firings had been probably unlawful and ordered them reinstated. The Commerce Department introduced them again and put them on paid administrative go away. Some had been assured by their supervisors that their advantages could be restored. Others acquired new insurance coverage playing cards within the mail.
Then simply weeks later, an appeals court docket voided the decrease court docket order. The very subsequent day, April 10, the Commerce Department knowledgeable workers they had been being fired as soon as once more, retroactive to their unique termination dates.
She had hip surgical procedure, believing she was insured
Ya’el Seid-Green was among the many tons of caught up on this chaos. She had labored as a contractor for the Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 4 years earlier than changing into a federal worker in 2023.
She had a long-planned hip arthroscopic surgical procedure scheduled for April 9. She thought of placing it off given the upheaval at work and the confusion over whether or not her medical health insurance had truly been restored.
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) brand is seen on the Aircraft Operations Center in Lakeland, Florida, on May 6, 2025. The Trump administration fired roughly 600 NOAA workers in its purge of probationary employees earlier this yr.
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP through Getty Images
conceal caption
toggle caption
Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP through Getty Images
“People had been getting totally different solutions from totally different individuals, totally different solutions from the identical individuals,” Seid-Green instructed NPR.
The day earlier than her surgical procedure, she obtained an electronic mail forwarded to her by a supervisor that stated the federal government “had run into some points” however was actively engaged on restoring her well being protection. That gave her confidence that the surgical procedure could be lined, particularly since she’d been paying her premium.
So she confirmed up the subsequent morning for her surgical procedure. She was handed a price estimate, paid her $150 co-pay and had the process. The very subsequent day, throughout a follow-up go to, she discovered that the Commerce Department was firing her once more.
A full week after that, on April 17, she and others at NOAA acquired a memo from human assets informing them that their well being care protection had ended April 8, the unique insurance coverage termination date they’d been given earlier than they had been reinstated.
Without insurance coverage, Seid-Green now owes round $15,000 for the surgical procedure alone. This week, she says, she’s gotten calls from her surgical procedure heart and her bodily therapist urging her to arrange fee plans.
She has tried to enroll within the federal authorities’s model of COBRA, paying for the complete value of her well being protection, however hasn’t but gotten affirmation that she’s truly been enrolled.
“I simply preserve telling them that it will ultimately be lined,” she wrote to NPR this week, including a fingers-crossed emoji.
A Democrat calls for solutions
Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts speaks throughout a listening to within the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on April 12, 2018. Lynch was tapped by Rep. Gerry Connolly to function the appearing high Democrat on the House Oversight Committee after Connolly stepped apart in late April, simply weeks earlier than his passing.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
conceal caption
toggle caption
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/Getty Images North America
Now, Lynch has requested Lutnick to elucidate why the Commerce Department didn’t honor its dedication to proceed workers’ well being protection for a 31-day interval after their termination, difficult the division’s determination to base insurance coverage protection on the workers’ unique termination dates after the appeals court docket allowed the firings to go ahead. Cases difficult the firings proceed to make their manner by way of the courts.
Lynch can be demanding to know why the Commerce Department has not refunded the medical health insurance premiums that the fired workers stored paying. Half a dozen former Commerce Department workers at NOAA and on the CHIPS for America program instructed NPR that even their closing pay stubs from the pay interval ending April 19 present a deduction for his or her well being care premiums.
In the temporary April 10 electronic mail informing workers they had been being fired a second time retroactive to their unique termination dates, the Commerce Department stated they’d not be required to return the pay they’d acquired whereas they had been on administrative go away. Now a few of them surprise if the federal government sees that as greater than sufficient to cowl the well being care premiums they’d paid, for protection that was not offered.
In his letter, Lynch requested Lutnick to reimburse all terminated workers for well being care premiums paid whereas they weren’t lined. He additionally demanded workers be reimbursed for any medical payments that their insurance coverage would have lined throughout that point.
Lynch requested that Lutnick present the House Oversight Committee with solutions and a follow-up report by June 18.
The Commerce Department didn’t instantly reply to NPR’s request for touch upon Lynch’s letter and didn’t reply to a number of earlier requests for remark in regards to the termination of fired workers’ medical health insurance.