Nearly 10,000 employees returned to the Food and Drug Administration’s headquarters in Maryland on Monday to what one worker described as a “Hunger Games-type situation” in which employees encountered packed parking lots, overflowing workspaces that lacked basic supplies, and long security lines.
The FDA ordered personnel to return to the office on Monday, a requirement outlined in President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day executive order stating that “heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”
The Washington Examiner spoke with three FDA employees who returned to the White Oak campus in Silver Spring on Monday, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are prohibited from speaking with reporters.
Multiple staffers shared photos of full parking lots and security lines that wrapped around the campus even before 7 a.m.
“From entering the campus to getting to my desk was about 50 minutes,” one FDA employee told the Washington Examiner. “By 8 a.m., two major surface lots were full, and people parked in the aisles and basically anywhere they could.”
Thousands of employees returned to the FDA headquarters in Maryland on Monday to what one worker described as a “hunger games type situation.” This is what the parking lot looked like before 7AM today. Some describe waiting in a security line for over an hour: pic.twitter.com/wlJGxgLscG
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Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, most FDA employees had the option to work from home at least two days a week. The FDA employee said that after the pandemic, she would typically do a hybrid schedule, working from the office one to two days a week.
“We have NEVER waited like this. We have never had lines outside the building,” the employee explained. “This is what they want. They want us to be frustrated and uncomfortable so we quit.”
Another employee described driving to the main gate around 8:30 a.m., only to find that the lot was full. He described driving around for more than 20 minutes with the hope of finding a spot and then eventually parking on the side of the road.
“I spent multiple hours of my day today looking for parking and standing in security lines — how is this efficient?” the person questioned. “It was absolute chaos. I cannot imagine doing this every day.”
“There are limited entrances to the building, and security was utterly unprepared for the amount of people,” he added.
Capacity problems at the White Oak campus in Maryland, about 40 minutes north of Washington, D.C., have been noted for years. A 2018 report for the consolidation of the headquarters noted the agency needed “7,436 additional parking spaces,” which amounts to one parking space for every 1.8 employees.
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The report specifically states, “The lack of direct access to high-capacity transit, such as Metrorail, presents a challenge for FDA. FDA must employ a variety of strategies that go above and beyond teleworking, shuttles, and carpools/vanpools.”
A report from the Government Accountability Office in 2016 found the campus was not up to standard and that the agency’s plans to address cramped offices and parking spaces needed more details before they were put into action.
In addition to the capacity concerns, the drinking water at the FDA’s main campus tested positive last fall for Legionella, a bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease. Personnel received an email earlier this month saying the water was now safe to drink, but some workers are unsettled by the situation.
“That email never talked about what exactly they did to correct the problem,” said the employee, who is a new mother and still nursing. “I brought my massive Stanley cup full of water because I just don’t trust it, and I can’t risk passing it on to my baby.”