A new class-action lawsuit asserts the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) fired civil servants based on incorrect internal personnel records.
Three months ago, the HHS cut its workforce by about 10,000 workers through a reduction in force (RIF), which is separate from the probationary worker firings that preceded it. Several lawsuits are challenging the legality of the RIF starting the week of March 31.
“This lawsuit is not focused on whether HHS should have engaged in layoffs or restructuring generally, whether its decision to do so was legal, or whether the agency complied with RIF-specific rules and regulations,” plaintiffs said. “Instead, this lawsuit is focused on whether, in choosing to cut this set of employees—including Plaintiffs here—HHS violated its obligations under the Privacy Act. In fact, these firings were caused by Defendants’ intentional failure to maintain complete, accurate, and timely personnel records, in violation of the Privacy Act, and Defendants’ determination to proceed with the cuts anyway.”
Plaintiffs named in the lawsuit (PDF) include fired workers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Administration for Children and Families and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
The HHS wrongfully made employment decisions based on inaccurate employment records and sent this information to other government agencies and employees working on behalf of the government, the lawsuit alleges.
Some employees said the performance rating listed in their termination notice were incorrect. When probationary workers were fired, many of their notices said they were fired for poor performance, despite some workers winning internal awards for achievement or obtaining the highest honors.
Other records had incorrect “competitive areas” or organizational and geographic subdivisions in an agency, according to the lawsuit.
“Indeed, in many cases the error-ridden data prevented defendants from understanding even the basic composition of HHS offices,” according to the complaint. “Second, these inaccurate and incomplete records fed directly into agency retention registers—the formal standings that rank employees against each other—making it less likely that plaintiffs caught up in the RIF would be retained or offered favorable reassignment.”
HHS leadership was aware the government utilizes an extraordinary number of databases containing personal information such as benefits, performance ratings, employee offices and positions, unique identifiers, time reporting and more. One FDA employee, for example, could theoretically have information sitting in seven different government databases, the lawsuit poses, necessitating a close inspection for false or missing data.
“And again, none of these systems communicate with each other. Some systems are updated more than others,” the lawsuit continues. “Some systems receive corrections faster than others. Nearly all have inaccuracies that are slowly compounded.”
The HHS granted access to employment records to DOGE officials, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Office of Personnel Management in a “haphazard” fashion, plaintiffs added.
Further, political appointees and DOGE representatives have repeatedly insulted government workers, diminishing their reputation and ability to obtain a new job. OMB Director Russell Vought, famously, has expressed a desire to inflict trauma on federal workers.
“On March 31, 2025, a group of DOGE representatives visited an FDA office in Maryland,” the lawsuit alleges. “That afternoon, while an FDA employee was heading to her car to leave for the day and alone in the parking garage, a car pulled up near her with its window open. A young man in business attire shouted at her from the car: ‘This is DOGE and this is your Last Supper!’ He laughed and drove off.”
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the press some mistakes would be made and need to be rectified. At various points in the Trump administration, workers at HHS have been asked to return to their jobs.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and the public face of the DOGE, appears to be stepping back from his role with the Trump administration. He posted on his social media platform, X, his disdain for a Trump-backed reconciliation bill that would increase the nation’s debt. The legislation would see millions of Americans with Medicaid or Affordable Care Act insurance lose coverage.
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