On October 3, local time, the U.S. Federal Office Employees’ Association (AFGE) issued a statement saying that the union had filed a lawsuit in court, accusing the Trump administration of modifying the automatic response emails of the Department of Education employees on vacation without employee consent during the government’s “closure”, blaming the Senate Democrats for the government’s “closure” responsibility in the content of the email.
The lawsuit alleges that the government manipulated employees 'email communications to force them to "repeat partisan remarks they were reluctant to make." These automatic reply emails are also designed to be presented in the first person, causing recipients to mistakenly believe that the email content represents the wishes of the employee on leave. The Federal Civil Servants Union said the government's move violated employees 'right to freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
It is reported that some employees have been placed on administrative leave due to the mass layoffs plan of the Ministry of Education, and the rest of the employees have been placed on leave after the government "closed" on October 1st. (CCTV reporter Wu Hanying)