A federal workers’ union has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for altering U.S. Department of Education employees’ out-of-office email messages to include partisan language about a government shutdown without their consent.
The American Federation of Government Employees, which is represented by Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group in the matter, accused the administration of going to “unprecedented lengths” to use government infrastructure to “shift the public debate in its favor.”
“This whole-of-government approach to partisan messaging is unprecedented, and it makes a mockery of statutory prohibitions like the Hatch Act,” the complaint states. “Especially pernicious, however, are the Administration’s efforts to co-opt the voices of rank-and-file employees in the nonpartisan civil service to take part in political messaging.”
The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.
The lawsuit comes after furloughed employees discovered their out-of-office replies had been manipulated to include language blaming a government shutdown on Democrats.
On Thursday, five employees who spoke with NBC News and provided copies of their out-of-office messages said they were surprised to learn that the wording was altered from how they originally had composed them. All of them are civil servants, not political appointees.
“The Trump-Vance administration is losing the blame game for the shutdown, so they’re using every tactic to try to fool the American people, including taking advantage of furloughed civil servants,” Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward said in a statement.
“Posting messages without consent to broadcast messages on behalf of a partisan agenda is a blatant violation of First Amendment rights,” she added. “Even for an administration that has repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of respect for the Constitution and rule of law, this is beyond outrageous. The court must act immediately to stop this flagrant unlawfulness.”
The altered email messages included language saying:
Thank you for contacting me. On September 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse of appropriations, I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.
On Thursday, Madi Biedermann, the deputy assistant secretary for communications for the Department of Education, said of the out-of-office responses: “The email reminds those who reach out to Department of Education employees that we cannot respond because Senate Democrats are refusing to vote for a clean CR and fund the government. Where’s the lie?”
Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement Friday that employees’ First Amendment rights were violated after “suffering financially by going without a salary due to this politically motivated government shutdown.”
This isn’t the first lawsuit related to the shutdown and federal workers. Earlier this week, AFGE, along with another union representing state and local employees, filed one against the Trump administration over potential mass firings previously telegraphed by the White House.
“The cynical use of federal employees as a pawn in Congressional deliberations should be declared unlawful and enjoined by this Court,” the complaint said.
Legal concerns have been raised about the president’s ability to lay off what the White House indicated could be “thousands” of people during a government shutdown, but administration officials believe it is within the president’s authority to approve “reductions in force.”
“Issuing RIFs is an excepted activity to fulfill the President’s constitutional authority to supervise and control the Executive Branch, similar to conducting foreign policy,” said Rachel Cauley, a spokesperson for the Office of Management and Budget.