Federal Workers Lose Bid to Pause Government Mass Email System

The Office of Personnel Management can continue using a government-wide email system to communicate with federal workers after a federal judge on Monday denied the employees’ early bid to block it.

The federal workers failed to show that they likely have standing to bring this action and would suffer irreparable injury in the absence of emergency relief, Judge Randolph D. Moss of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled.

The email system allows senior Trump administration officials to communicate directly with staff across the government, rather than relying on managers to distribute information.

The system-wide email was used to ask federal employees to voluntarily resign, promising to keep them on the payroll until September. About 75,000 workers—or around 3% of the 2.4 million civilian federal workforce—took the “Fork in the Road” deal, which would bring the government’s headcount down to 2023 levels.

Two employees sued, alleging that email couldn’t have used current government systems, and the E-Government Act of 2002 requires a Privacy Impact Assessment before collecting new information. That’s to ensure among other things that federal agencies incorporate sufficient privacy protections into their practices, especially for sensitive data.

The ruling comes days after Moss initially denied the workers’ request as moot following the government’s submission of the Privacy Impact Assessment. The employees, who sought to represents other workers as part of a class, challenged the sufficiency and accuracy of the PIA.

Hackers have targeted OPM before; a 2015 breach impacted the personal information of about 22.1 million people.

National Security Counselors argued for the workers.

The case is Doe v. Office of Personnel Management, D.D.C., No. 1:25-cv-00234, 2/17/25.