Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
A Rockville woman with developmental disabilities was facing a layoff from NIH after 30 years.
Government & Politics
A Rockville woman with developmental disabilities was facing a layoff from NIH after 30 years. What’s next for her is uncertain.
Family seeks solutions after mailroom worker left job in wake of DOGE cut
By Ginny Bixby
July 29, 2025 10:46 a.m. | Updated: July 30, 2025 4:52 p.m.
Andrea Geller, right, is embraced by her mother, Lois Geller, at her apartment in Rockville. Andrea was laid off from her job at NIH in April. Photo credit: Ginny Bixby
Editor’s note: This story was originally published at 10:46 a.m. on July 29, 2025. It was updated at 4:05 p.m. on July 30, 2025 to include a statement from the Director of Communications for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and again at 4:52 p.m. on July 30, 2025 to include more information from the Gellers regarding the nature of Andrea Geller’s departure from NIH. MM k
When Andrea Geller got a job working in the mailroom at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda at age 21, she was ecstatic. For 31 years, the federal agency was her happy place.
“I loved the mailroom, and I loved making friends and getting to talk to them every day,” Geller, 52, told Bethesda Today in a recent interview at her apartment in Rockville.
But in April, she was encouraged by her supervisors to take a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offer after thousands of NIH employees were laid off by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. Geller’s supervisors had some warning that Geller would be among the next to lose her job and told her there was nothing they could do to keep her job secure, so they encouraged her to take the early retirement offer in order to keep her benefits, her mother Lois Geller told Bethesda Today. However, Andrea Geller told Bethesda Today that it would not have been her choice to leave the agency under other circumstances and that she does not consider herself retired.
{snip}
A Rockville woman with developmental disabilities was facing a layoff from NIH after 30 years. What’s next for her is uncertain.
Family seeks solutions after mailroom worker left job in wake of DOGE cut
By Ginny Bixby
July 29, 2025 10:46 a.m. | Updated: July 30, 2025 4:52 p.m.
Andrea Geller, right, is embraced by her mother, Lois Geller, at her apartment in Rockville. Andrea was laid off from her job at NIH in April. Photo credit: Ginny Bixby
Editor’s note: This story was originally published at 10:46 a.m. on July 29, 2025. It was updated at 4:05 p.m. on July 30, 2025 to include a statement from the Director of Communications for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and again at 4:52 p.m. on July 30, 2025 to include more information from the Gellers regarding the nature of Andrea Geller’s departure from NIH. MM k
When Andrea Geller got a job working in the mailroom at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda at age 21, she was ecstatic. For 31 years, the federal agency was her happy place.
“I loved the mailroom, and I loved making friends and getting to talk to them every day,” Geller, 52, told Bethesda Today in a recent interview at her apartment in Rockville.
But in April, she was encouraged by her supervisors to take a Voluntary Early Retirement Authority offer after thousands of NIH employees were laid off by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. Geller’s supervisors had some warning that Geller would be among the next to lose her job and told her there was nothing they could do to keep her job secure, so they encouraged her to take the early retirement offer in order to keep her benefits, her mother Lois Geller told Bethesda Today. However, Andrea Geller told Bethesda Today that it would not have been her choice to leave the agency under other circumstances and that she does not consider herself retired.
{snip}