Federal employees are seeking a temporary restraining order as part of a class action lawsuit accusing a group of Elon Musks associates of allegedly operating an illegally connected server from the fifth floor of the US Office of Personnel Managements (OPM) headquarters in Washington, DC.An attorney representing two federal workersJane Does 1 and 2filed a motion this morning arguing that the servers continued operation not only violates federal law but is potentially exposing vast quantities of government staffers personal information to hostile foreign adversaries through unencrypted email.A copy of the motion, filed in the DC District Court by National Security Counselors, a Washington-area public-interest law firm, was obtained by WIRED exclusively in advance. WIRED previously reported that Musk had installed several lackeys in OPMs top offices, including individuals with ties to xAI, Neuralink, and other companies he owns.The initial lawsuit, filed on January 27, cites reports that Musks associates illegally connected a server to a government network for the purposes of harvesting information, including the names and email accounts of federal employees. The server was installed on the agencys premises, the complaint alleges, without OPMthe governments human resources departmentconducting a mandatory privacy impact assessment required under federal law.Under the 2002 E-Government Act, agencies are required to perform privacy assessments prior to making substantial changes to existing information technology when handling information in identifiable form. Notably, prior to the installation of the server, OPM did not have the technical capability to email the entire federal workforce from a single email account.[A]t some point after 20 January 2025, OPM allowed unknown individuals to simply bypass its existing systems and security protocols, Tuesdays motion claims, for the stated purpose of being able to communicate directly with those individuals without involving other agencies. In short, the sole purpose of these new systems was expediency.OPM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Got a Tip?Are you a current or former employee with a government agency impacted by this? Wed like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact Dell Cameron securely at dell.3030 on Signal.If the motion is granted, OPM would be forced to disconnect the server until the assessment is done. As a consequence, the Trump administrations plans to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce would likely face delays. The email account linked to the serverHR@opm.govis currently being used to gather information from federal workers accepting buyouts under the admins deferred resignation program, which is set to expire on February 6.Under the law, a temporary restraining order is an extraordinary remedy, notes National Security Counselors executive director, Kel McClanahan. But this is an extraordinary situation.Before issuing a restraining order, courts apply whats known as the balance of equities doctrine, weighing the burdens and costs on both parties. In this case, however, McClanahan argues that the injunction would inflict no hardship on the government whatsoever. February 6 is an arbitrary deadline, he says, and the administration could simply continue to implement the resignation program through preexisting channels.