This article is from a partnership that includes WABE, NPR, and KFF Health News. It can be republished for free. 

On a sunny weekday in Atlanta, a small crowd of people gathered for a rally outside of a labor union headquarters building.

The event, put together by Atlanta-area Democratic U.S. Rep. Nikema Williams, was attended mostly by union members and recently fired federal workers, including Ryan Sloane.

“I was fired by an anonymous email at 9 p.m. in the middle of a holiday weekend,” he said.

Sloane is still seeking reinstatement, but he feels he no longer has much to lose by speaking out.

“I’m only here today because they cannot fire me twice,” Sloane said.

When he received his termination notice, he was a few months into a job as a public affairs specialist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

At the CDC, his days were spent updating far-flung local TV, radio, and newspaper journalists about threats such as seasonal flu, measles, and food safety in their communities.

A judge has ordered the reinstatement of some fired federal employees, at least temporarily. But their jobs are still on the line.

Sloane said his former colleagues at the CDC whose jobs aren’t yet in limbo are scared.

“They are terrified that their life’s work is going to be deleted from servers and not backed up because it does not comport with the ideologies of the new administration,” he said. “No one is benefiting from this.”

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