{"id":14347,"date":"2015-07-08T18:46:43","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T18:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2015\/07\/08\/union-lawsuit-claims-opm-violated-constitutional-rights\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:41:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:41:53","slug":"union-lawsuit-claims-opm-violated-constitutional-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/management\/2015\/07\/08\/union-lawsuit-claims-opm-violated-constitutional-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Union lawsuit claims OPM violated constitutional rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another federal union group has filed suit over the hack of Office of Personnel Management systems, demanding lifetime credit monitoring for federal employees and requiring the agency to improve its cybersecurity posture before asking for any more employee information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Treasury Employees Union filed the suit Wednesday claiming that the agency’s failure to protect employee information violated workers’ constitutional rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawsuit: <\/b> Complaint for <\/g> Declaratory and Injunctive Relief<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Federal employees must give the government a great deal of very intimate and personal information about themselves,” said NTEU National President Colleen Kelley. “Federal employees are entrusting this information to OPM with the expectation that the information \u2026 will all be kept confidential and safe. OPM makes this promise on its official background investigation forms.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The union says OPM failed to keep this promise when hackers breached its systems, exposing employment information and background investigations on millions of current, former and potential federal employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPM Data Breach: <\/b>What You Need to Know<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OPM Director Katherine Archuleta is named as the sole defendant in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The American Federation of Government Employees filed a similar suit<\/a> in late June, stating that the breach was a direct result of inaction by Archuleta and CIO Donna Seymour, who are both named as defendants in that suit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NTEU suit also differs from others in its legal approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While other suits \u2014 like the one filed by AFGE \u2014 are based on alleged violations of the Privacy Act, the NTEU suit makes the case that OPM’s failure to secure personal information violated employee’s constitutional right to privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial: <\/b>AFGE lawsuit over OPM hack? Not a shocker<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NTEU lawyers noted the Privacy Act requires plaintiffs to meet a higher standard, such as proving damages occurred and that the violation was willful and intentional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our approach isn’t really focused on recouping damages,” said NTEU general counsel Greg O’Duden. “We are looking for a court injunction that will cure the source of the problem; that will ensure that OPM gets its act together and institutes appropriate security measures.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The NTEU lawsuit asks the court to require OPM to take four specific actions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n