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Former FDA civil servant Kelly Jabar says HHS let her go during cancer treatment and mailed sensitive personnel records
Summary
Kelly Jabar testified that after cancer surgeries she faced a confusing personnel process at HHS and the FDA: an initial termination was rescinded, her team was later let go, and she says the agency mailed unsealed SF-50 forms containing sensitive information to employees, including incorrect forms to some.
Kelly Jabar, a former FDA civil servant, told the Oversight Committee Democrats during public comment that she was terminated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services this summer after an earlier termination had been rescinded and that the agency mailed personnel forms that exposed sensitive information.
Jabar said she joined the FDA after earning a master's in public administration and working as a contractor and that she loved creating procedures and systems. She said she was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer in August 2024 and underwent multiple surgeries. After a first surgery she returned to work early, then received a letter from HHS saying she had been terminated for not meeting probationary standards; she appealed with her supervisor's help and said the termination was rescinded.
Despite the rescission, Jabar said she and her entire team were later let go en masse on April 1 and that access to FDA facilities and agency email was revoked — she reported the revocation occurring at 7:00 and said some employees did not receive the short agency email and were left outside agency doors. "I worked so hard. I fought cancer. I had done everything I could to keep serving the American people and I was discarded again," she said.
Jabar asserted the personnel actions were not about performance or budget. "Not because of performance, not because of budget, but because of politics," she said, adding that the moves were driven by "the whims of this administration" and criticizing an unnamed senior official she described as having "no medical background" and who "spouts misinformation." Those characterizations are Jabar's assertions in the public-comment record; the transcript does not include responses from HHS or the FDA.
She said that after further surgeries, on July 14 she received a two-sentence letter from HHS stating she had been officially let go, sent to her official work email with no accompanying instructions on returning equipment or how long insurance coverage would continue. "There was no additional information such as where to send the equipment or how long our insurance would last," she said.
About a month after the separations, Jabar said she received an SF-50, the federal personnel action form, in an unsealed envelope that included what she called "extremely sensitive information," and that others had received the wrong SF-50s. "So now I'm worried somebody else has my information," she said. She added that HHS later mailed identity-protection services but that "any damage was already done."
Jabar also described difficulty obtaining official information and limited communication from managers: she said a helpful supervisor (who was also separated) assisted her, while the department head, who she said was later promoted, refused to speak with separated employees and that she had been told supervisors were instructed not to discuss the matter with those let go.
Her testimony closed with an account of the emotional and practical toll: extended medical care while trying to work, long commutes, and the stress of unclear personnel processes. "My dream job has turned into a nightmare," she said.
The transcript records Jabar's assertions and personal account during public comment; it does not include any agency response or formal findings. The Oversight Committee Democrats' record linked to this public comment does not contain additional agency statements in the provided transcript.
