The largest union of federal workers filed a class-action lawsuit Monday against the Office of Personnel Management for failing to provide information to current and former federal workers about how they might be affected by the theft of data 4.2 million workers, and maybe more.
The American Federation of Government Employees, or AFGE, filed the suit against OPM, its embattled director Katherine Archuleta, and the agency’s chief information officer Donna Seymour. The union, which has complained from the start about OPM’s shoddy response to the data breach, said OPM continues to use data systems that put federal workers at risk.
“AFGE will not sit idly by while OPM fails to comply with the most basic requests for information or provide an adequate response,” the union said in a statement. “Even after this historic security breach, OPM has continued to use poor data security practices and inferior private-sector strategies to solve its security woes.”
“Since 2007, officials at OPM have been alerted to their lackluster data security policies and protocols and failed to take appropriate steps to safeguard the information,” the statement continued, referring to OPM inspector general reports warning about cyber vulnerabilities.
“Despite putting government employees and their loved ones at significant personal and financial risk, OPM has failed to reveal the full scope of who was specifically impacted by the data breach and the extent of the information taken,” the statement continued.
The lawsuit demands that all parties to the class-action suit be awarded “appropriate relief, including actual and statutory damages,” and asked for “equitable, injunctive, and declaratory relief as may be appropriate.”
It also asked for experts’ and attorneys’ fees, and the cost of pursing the lawsuit.
Anonymous government officials have said that as many as 18 million Americans could be affected by two separate hacks revealed earlier this month but OPM steadfastly refuses to up the number while the investigation continues. The larger number could reflect family members whose information was stolen, but OPM has not clarified a precise number above 4.2 million.
“Since the agency is unwilling to provide adequate assistance, AFGE is taking unprecedented steps to gather more information for our members and hold the agency accountable,” the statement concluded.
