Multiple furloughed workers from the Department of Education had out-of-office messages blaming Democrats for the government shutdown automatically sent from their email accounts without their consent or knowledge, according to four sources familiar with the situation.
The sources, who currently work at the department and spoke with CNN anonymously out of fear of retribution, characterized the move as disturbing and violating as well as one that could potentially impact their professional reputations.
“It is compelled speech and feels like a setup,” one Department of Education employee told CNN, with another worker saying they felt “completely violated and concerned” about the possible ramifications.
The automatic messages come as federal workers at other agencies say they were provided with suggested partisan language to include in their own out-of-office email notices.
The emails also resemble messages that have appeared on several agency webpages amid the shutdown and blame Democratic senators for Congress’ failure to agree to extend funding at the start of the fiscal year.
They highlight the highly unusual step the Trump administration is taking to use the federal government and its employees to promote their messaging about the shutdown, which began October 1 as Republicans and Democrats failed to reach a funding deal.
While Republicans insist Democrats need to simply agree to extend current funding for another seven weeks, Democrats are demanding that any funding bill contain an extension of enhanced Affordable Care Act premium subsidies.
Some federal workers raised concerns that the messages could be a violation of the Hatch Act, which states that federal government officials and employees are required to perform their duties in a nonpartisan manner.
The federal law is intended to “protect federal employees from political coercion in the workplace,” according to the Office of the Special Counsel.
Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer during the George W. Bush administration, said “a number” of laws may have been violated by the directive, or by the Department of Education sending automatic out-of-office emails without their employees’ knowledge. He specifically pointed toward one law prohibiting political lobbying using taxpayer funds and another that prohibits government coercion of political activity – which is a criminal statute.
“If you coerce someone to send a message, let’s just say they say, ‘You need to send a message blaming the Democrats for the shutdown, or you get fired,’ I think that’s a violation,” he said.
“But then let’s go to the next step and say, well, instead of doing that, they just seize control of your email, because you’re out of the office, and you’re not allowed to go in your email, and they put out an email with your name on it, isn’t that coercion? I think that’s coercion.”
At the Department of Education, more than one furloughed worker described how their out-of-office message had been changed without their consent after they were originally instructed to post a generic message typical of past shutdowns.
One employee said they went into their email system twice over the last 24 hours to change the automatic message to a generic one, but it was reverted back to the message blaming Democrats.
“I have seen articles about agencies providing ‘suggested’ language, but what’s happening here is absolutely worse and scary,” said one Department of Education worker. It is not clear when the changes happened or who is making them on behalf of employees.
The new out-of-office message read: “Thank you for contacting me. On September 19, 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 in appropriations I am currently in furlough status. I will respond to emails once government functions resume.”
The change does not appear to apply to all DOE employees. Some employees who were reached by CNN via email responded with a nonpartisan out-of-office message. A few, however, responded with the updated message blaming Democratic senators for the shutdown.
The Department of Education did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Department of Health and Human Services confirmed, meanwhile, that employees were instructed to blame Democrats for the shutdown in their out-of-office messages.
“Employees were instructed to use out-of-office messages that reflect the truth: Democrats have shut the government down,” said the agency’s director of communications. “The Trump Administration is working to reopen the government for the American people while ensuring mission-critical HHS activities continue.”
A worker at the Small Business Administration who was furloughed as a result of the shutdown said they were shocked when agency leadership sent employees politically charged language blaming Senate Democrats to use in their out-of-office emails during the shutdown.
Meanwhile, several federal agencies have included partisan messages on their homepages, with the Department of Housing and Urban Development writing that the “Radical Left in Congress shut down the government.”
The State Department’s message online says, “Due to the Democrat-led shutdown, website updates will be limited until full operations resume,” while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s states, “The Trump Administration is working to reopen the government for the American people. Mission-critical activities of CDC will continue during the Democrat-led government shutdown.”
Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, filed a complaint against the Small Business Administration and Department of Housing and Urban Development for the messages on their homepages, alleging they violate the Hatch Act.
CNN’s Lauren Chadwick contributed to this report.
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