The National Treasury Employees Union has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against the Office of Personnel Management for the recent hacking of federal employees’ private information, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
Lisa Rein writes that NTEU alleges a failure on the part of OPM to take steps to ensure the security of union members’ personal information, thus violating their constitutional right to privacy.
“It was a reckless failure to keep the information OPM was given confidentially by thousands of employees,” NTEU President Colleen Kelley said at a news conference, according to the report.
Rein writes that the lawsuit, filed in Northern California’s district court, follows legal action from the American Federation of Government Employees against OPM and security clearance contractor Keypoint Government Solutions.
NTEU’s suit asks the court to order the U.S. government to cover the lifetime costs of credit monitoring and identity-theft protection, mandate OPM to strengthen its cybersecurity efforts and stop further electronic collection of union members’ information until all vulnerabilities are resolved, the report said.
