Greater than 100 present and former federal employees have sued Elon Musk and the Division of Authorities Effectivity company he runs for allegedly accessing extremely delicate personnel data with out correct vetting or authorization, in accordance with a new federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The lawsuit was filed within the Southern District of New York by 104 employees together with numerous unions representing authorities employees. The plaintiffs are asking for the federal government’s most important HR company, the Workplace of Personnel Administration (OPM), to chop off entry to DOGE and its brokers.
“OPM Defendants gave DOGE Defendants and DOGE’s brokers — lots of whom are beneath the age of 25 and are or had been till not too long ago staff of Musk’s personal firms — ‘administrative’ entry to OPM pc methods, with out present process any regular, rigorous national-security vetting,” the lawsuit reads.
The grievance names Elon Musk, DOGE, the OPM, and present OPM director Charles Ezell as defendants.
The lawsuit alleges that DOGE acquiring OPM data violated the Privateness Act, which prohibits improper entry to private knowledge, together with throughout federal businesses.
“The Privateness Act makes it illegal for OPM Defendants at hand over entry to OPM’s tens of millions of personnel data to DOGE Defendants, who lack a lawful and legit want for such entry,” the grievance alleges. “No exception to the Privateness Act covers DOGE Defendants’ entry to data held by OPM.”
The lawsuit says DOGE’s brokers weren’t authorities staff on the time they obtained entry to OPM pc networks. It calls out 19-year-old DOGE employee Edward Coristine, who reportedly glided by “Massive Balls” on-line, for being fired from a cybersecurity agency after an inside probe into knowledge leaks throughout his employment.
The swimsuit additionally alleges that DOGE’s entry to federal employee knowledge might spark dangerous skilled penalties for them, noting that Musk and President Trump have threatened to fireside staff considered as disloyal. Disclosure of their monetary knowledge might additionally expose the employees to hacking by criminals and overseas actors, the grievance says.
The lawsuit comes amid rising controversy over DOGE’s entry to delicate authorities knowledge because the company begins instituting mass layoffs and different reforms throughout the federal authorities.
The lawsuit is concentrated on getting an injunction to chop off that entry, however is simply “part one” earlier than a category motion lawsuit, a lawyer for the Digital Frontier Basis, Victoria Noble, advised WIRED.
DOGE, OPM, and representatives for Musk’s firms didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
