Staff furloughed from the U.S. Department of Education say their out-of-office emails blaming Democratic senators for the federal government shutdown were set up without their permission—and they raise concerns about violations of the federal law that prohibits government employees from using their positions for political activities.
The department’s actions also coincide with several federal agencies—though not the Education Department—promoting partisan messages on their websites that have blamed Democrats and the “radical left” for the first government shutdown in nearly seven years, after lawmakers couldn’t come to an agreement to extend funding beyond the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.
Shortly before the shutdown, Education Department employees said the agency sent them a uniform, nonpartisan out-of-office message for all staff to use for automatic email responses while agency operations are mostly on hold. That message explained there was a temporary shutdown, and it directed people to the department’s website for more information. Such messages are standard when shutdowns are on the horizon, staff say.
But then the department changed the messaging unilaterally, without staff’s knowledge or permission, to say:
“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.”
Some staff said they were unaware their out-of-office messages had been changed. Others, who have been on paid administrative leave for months as part of a broad effort to shed staff, had no access to their email accounts to post the messages.
“This administration took away funding for low-income schools, special education students, and school-based mental health services,” one staffer, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, told Education Week on Thursday. “Now, making every federal worker a partisan pawn for their own ends is again about power, not students.”
Sheria Smith, president of the union that represents the Education Department staff, said the partisan messaging was unprecedented.
“Certainly we have been impacted by government shutdowns before, and we’ve been instructed previously to put out-of-office messages regarding the shutdown, but none of it was ever partisan; none of it ever placed blame on one particular party over the other, which makes sense because our workforce is apolitical,” she said. “These out-of-office messages are yet another example of a disturbing politicizing of what should be independent federal workers.”
Smith said the union is worried its members could be disciplined for violating the Hatch Act, the 1939 law that prohibits federal employees from engaging in some forms of political activity and restricts the use of taxpayer money for partisan actions.
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which enforces the Hatch Act and has found violations by high-ranking officials in both Republican and Democratic administrations, can seek disciplinary action against an employee who violates the law.
The Education Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The out-of-office message from the agency’s press office contained similar language blaming Democrats for the shutdown.
In the days before the shutdown, several federal agencies posted messages on their websites blaming Democrats for blocking the appropriations bill.
Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, has filed complaints against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Small Business Administration. Both had placed messages on their homepages blaming the “Radical Left” and “Senate Democrats” for causing the shutdown.
Other departments, meanwhile, had encouraged staff to use language that blamed Democrats in their out-of-office emails, NBC News reported.
This story will be updated.
