Greater than 100 present and former federal staff have sued Elon Musk and the Division of Authorities Effectivity company he runs for allegedly accessing highly sensitive personnel records 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 the Digital Frontier Basis and different privateness teams on behalf of 103 staff and varied authorities employee unions. The plaintiffs are asking for the federal government’s foremost 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 have been till just lately staff of Musk’s non-public corporations — ‘administrative’ entry to OPM pc techniques, with out present process any regular, rigorous national-security vetting,” the lawsuit reads.
The criticism 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 handy over entry to OPM’s thousands and thousands of personnel data to DOGE Defendants, who lack a lawful and legit want for such entry,” the criticism 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 “Huge 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 may spark dangerous skilled penalties for them, noting that Musk and President Trump have threatened to fireplace staff seen as disloyal. Disclosure of their monetary knowledge may additionally expose the employees to hacking by criminals and international actors, the criticism says.
The lawsuit comes amid rising controversy over DOGE’s access to sensitive government data because the company begins instituting mass layoffs and different reforms throughout the federal authorities.
The lawsuit is targeted on getting an injunction to chop off that entry, however that’s simply “section one” earlier than a category motion lawsuit, in accordance with Mark Lemley, one of many attorneys representing the plaintiffs, WIRED reported.
DOGE, OPM, and representatives for Musk’s corporations didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.