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WASHINGTON (CN) — A coalition of unions representing government, public and private sector employees sued the Department of Labor and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency on Wednesday to block access to sensitive worker data and trade secret information on Musk’s corporate competitors.
The lawsuit comes amid a swirl of controversy regarding efforts by Musk and members of his DOGE organization to cut federal spending, size down the federal workforce and readjust or outright close certain government agencies — efforts that have sparked an ever-increasing amount of litigation.
Musk has moved to overhaul the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Treasury Department, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Education since President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
According to the unions, Musk’s next target was the Department of Labor, and he would act on Wednesday. Without the court’s intervention, Musk would gain access to information that would likely create a conflict of interest.
“DOGE will also have access to information regarding investigations of Musk’s corporate interests and the sensitive trade secret information held by the department, including those of the competitors of those corporate interests,” the unions said.
The unions requested a federal judge issue a temporary restraining order, or an administrative stay, to bar Musk and his DOGE agents access to Labor Department data.
Additionally, the unions said Musk would also have access to sensitive information such as medical information about all federal workers with compensation or Black Lung claims, identities of federal workers who have filed wage or safety complaints and the investigative and litigation records of the Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
The unions, joined by the Economic Policy Institute, warn in the lawsuit that Musk and DOGE have violated several laws, such as constitutional limits on executive power, employment laws protecting civil servant and protections for government data regarding hundreds of millions of Americans.
They added that Musk and his non-governmental agents have moved swiftly on purpose to meet their goals.
“DOGE seeks to gain access to sensitive systems before courts can stop them, dismantle agencies before Congress can assert its prerogatives in the federal budget and intimidate and threaten employees who stand in their way, worrying about the consequences later,” the unions said.
The coalition include the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Service Employees International Union, Communication Workers of America and the Economic Policy Institute.
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, said in a statement Wednesday that Musk’s “hacking” of the Treasury payment systems and Office of Personnel Management databases were “reckless, illegal and unconstitutional.”
“DOGE is trying to override the laws passed by Congress by essentially hacking the nation’s checkbook and canceling the spending they don’t like,” Shierholz said. “This is profoundly undemocratic. This is also genuinely dangerous for the well-being of typical families — the cuts DOGE decides to unilaterally impose and the chaos they create will cause real economic pain.”
In a related proceeding, a federal judge on Wednesday indicated that she may issue a temporary injunction to prevent DOGE agents from gaining additional access to Treasury Department data, outside of two Musk allies who joined the department on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly scheduled the hearing after the American Federation of Government Employees, Service Employees International Union and Alliance for Retired Americans requested immediate relief to block the continued disclosure to the financial information of tens of millions of Americans.
Justice Department attorney Bradley Humphreys said that the only people to gain access to the financial information were Tom Krause, former chief executive of Cloud Software Group Inc., and Marko Elez, an engineer who has worked for SpaceX and X, formerly Twitter.
DOGE reportedly gained access over the weekend to several sensitive systems responsible for Social Security and Medicare benefits, salaries for federal personnel, payments to government contractors and grant recipients, tax refunds and thousands of other functions.
In the motion requesting the order, the unions warned that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s disclosure provided improper access to a number of unknown individuals without the union members’ knowledge and they were actively being harmed by the ongoing disclosures.
Kollar-Kotelly, a Bill Clinton appointee, ordered the parties to submit further briefing Wednesday evening and potentially meet for a hearing on the temporary restraining order on Thursday.
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