AFSCME sues to stop unlawful seizure of Social Security data

Photo credit: AFSCME Staff

https://www.afscme.org/blog/afscme-sues-to-stop-unlawful-seizure-of-social-security-data

By AFSCME Staff · Monday, February 24, 2025

AFSCME, the Alliance for Retired Americans and the American Federation of Teachers have sued to stop DOGE’s unlawful seizure of people’s personal, sensitive data from the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The world’s richest man, billionaire Elon Musk, heads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The new administration has tasked Musk with gutting federal agencies and programs to fund tax cuts for billionaires.

AFSCME’s lawsuit alleges that the seizure of SSA data by DOGE violates the law, including the many protections found in the Internal Revenue Code, the Privacy Act, the Federal Information Systems Modernization Act and more.

“Elon Musk is an unelected billionaire who has no right to access the benefits working people have paid into. We won’t allow him to undermine the promise that we can all retire with dignity one day; that if we ever get hurt on the job and are unable to work, we won’t go hungry,” AFSCME President Lee Saunders said in a press release. “Social Security insurance belongs to taxpayers, not Musk — no matter how rich he is.”

FULL story at link above.