Department of Education employees furloughed this week discovered their email accounts had been manipulated while they were out of office to include partisan talking points that blamed a government shutdown on Democrats.
Five employees who spoke with NBC News and provided copies of their out-of-office messages said the wording was altered from how they originally had composed them. All of them are civil servants, not political appointees, and requested anonymity out of fear of professional repercussions.
Education officials had initially sent employees templates of nonpartisan out-of-office wording to use in their emails. Several employees said they used the language provided by department officials earlier in the week only to find that while they were furloughed, someone had changed it.
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One person said they changed their out-of-office message back to the nonpartisan version, only to have it then revert to the partisan wording later.
“None of us consented to this. And it’s written in the first-person, as if I’m the one conveying this message, and I’m not. I don’t agree with it. I don’t think it’s ethical or legal. I think it violates the Hatch Act,” this person said, referring to the law that imposes limits on political activity by federal employees.
“I took the statement that they sent us earlier in the week to use. And I pasted it on top of that — basically has a standard out-of-office,” another one of the Department of Education employees said. “They went in and manipulated my out-of-office reply. I guess they’re now making us all guilty of violating the Hatch Act.”
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On Wednesday, NBC News reported that some employees at federal agencies were being offered partisan language blaming Democrats for the shutdown to use as their out-of-office messages. A number of federal websites also now display language going after Democrats or the “radical left.”
But what the Department of Education is doing goes further, pulling individual civil servants into the political talking points even if they don’t agree with them. The agency did not immediately return requests for comment. One spokesperson had an out-of-office message that did not contain any partisan language, instead saying, “There is a temporary shutdown of the U.S. government due to a lapse in appropriations. I will respond to your message if it is allowable as an excepted activity or as soon as possible after the temporary shutdown ends”
The altered email messages included language saying: “Thank you for contacting me. On September 10, 2025, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5371, a clean continuing resolution. Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate which has led to a lapse in appropriations. Due to the lapse of appropriations, I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.”
One of the employees said they were not overly worried about getting hit with a Hatch Act violation, saying the department has crossed into a level of partisanship they’d never seen without anyone being held accountable. In this case, the employee was incensed that someone else’s message was connected to their name.
“Nobody follows the law anymore, so why does it matter? It seems like laws are dotted lines now, not solid lines. It seems there’s no one to hold this administration accountable to laws,” one of the employees said. As far as fearing any repercussions, they said: “Clearly, this wasn’t done by me, it was done while I was in a furlough status, I think I’d be able to argue that point.”
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