Some government health employees who were laid off Tuesday were told to contact Anita Pinder with discrimination complaints. But Pinder, who was the director at the Office of Equal Opportunity & Civil Rights at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, died last year.
The inclusion of Pinder’s name in the reduction in force notices reflects the chaos of the Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to shed federal workers and was a gut punch to employees who knew her, said Karen Shields, who worked with Pinder.
“They couldn’t have run it past the people at CMS that were at the funeral and knew she died,” Shields said. “This is a lack of communication. There is just a better way to do this.”
In one notice reviewed by The Washington Post, laid-off CMS employees were told: “If you believe this personnel action is based in whole or in part on discrimination based on your race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability, or in retaliation for prior protected activity you may file an EEO complaint with your designated HHS EEO representative.”
The notice then listed Pinder, her email and a phone number, and asked employees to contact her no later than 45 calendar days from the effective date of their separation from government service.
CMS didn’t immediately return a request for comment. Members of Pinder’s family could not be immediately reached.
While Pinder’s position is listed as vacant on the CMS website, the Department of Health and Human Services has her listed as a director on a page that was reviewed in March.
Pinder wasn’t the only contact listed on the notices that appeared to be incorrect.
In the communications office at the Food and Drug Administration, RIF notices instructed employees who’d lost their jobs to contact a staffer at the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office if they believed their firing was inappropriate, according to a copy of the message obtained by The Post.
But the woman whose name, email and phone was listed as the EEO contact had left the agency nearly a month before, according to another message obtained by The Post.
On the tribute wall of Pinder’s obituary, a “Former HHS Colleague planted a tree in memory” of her, writing, “May her light live on through her loved ones and those touched through her knowledge and mentorship.”
Shields said it pained her to see Pinder’s name used in this way, as she was so dedicated to the staff.
“She would have been someone, even though her job would have been on the chopping block, she would have helped,” Shields said.
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Hannah Natanson and Lisa Rein contributed to this report.
