Federal worker union sues over Education Department shutdown emails

Source: The Hill

10/03/25 9:50 PM ET


A federal worker union sued the Trump administration on Friday due to automatic email responses from employees at the Education Department that blame Democrats for the government shutdown.

The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) represented by the Democracy Forward and Public Citizen Litigation Group sent a cease and desist letter, and also filed a lawsuit against the Education Department over the political statement issued in staff email responses.

“Federal employees already are suffering financially by going without a salary due to this politically motivated government shutdown,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.

“Now the administration has directly and deliberately violated the First Amendment rights of furloughed workers at the Department of Education by replacing their out-of-office email messages with partisan political language without the employees’ consent,” he added. The Hill reached out to the Education Department for comment.

Read more: https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5538374-federal-workers-sue-trump-education-department-emails/