More than a hundred U.S. federal employees sue Musk and DOGE, demanding to cut off data access

ChainCatcher news, according to a new federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday, over 100 current and former federal employees are suing Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) he leads, accusing them of accessing highly sensitive personnel records without proper review or authorization.

The lawsuit was filed by 104 employees and various unions representing government workers in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs are asking the government's primary human resources agency, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), to cut off DOGE and its agents' access.

The complaint lists Musk, DOGE, OPM, and current OPM Director Charles Ezell as defendants. The lawsuit claims that DOGE's access to OPM records violates the Privacy Act, which prohibits improper access to personal data, including cross-agency access to personal data.

It points out that DOGE agents were not government employees when they obtained access to OPM's computer network. The lawsuit mentions 19-year-old DOGE employee Edward Coristine, who reportedly goes by the online nickname "Big Balls," and was fired from a cybersecurity company due to an internal investigation into data breaches during his employment.