Government Workers Say Their Out-of-Office Replies Were Forcibly Changed to Blame Democrats for Shutdown

"On Wednesday, the first day of the US government shutdown, employees at the Department of Education (DOE) set their automatic out-of-office email responses to inform recipients that they would be unable to respond until after the shutdown. Hours later, many DOE employees realized their response message had been altered to contain partisan language without their consent. The automatic reply now blamed Senate Democrats for the entire shutdown."

"It's not clear who made the change to email accounts, which was first posted about on Bluesky by journalist Marisa Kabas. "It's disturbing," says a DOE employee who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak to the press. Some employees changed their responses back to the more neutral language, only to have it changed yet again to the partisan response, multiple sources tell WIRED."

"As government employees began to log off in preparation for a shutdown, many agencies sent out guidance, including suggested language for their out-of-office message. While some agencies offered employees neutral language, simply explaining they would not be able to reply until the shutdown concluded, employees at the Small Business Administration and, according to sources and screenshots reviewed by WIRED, the Department of Labor, received suggested language that blamed Democrats for the shutdown."

On the first day of a US government shutdown, Department of Education employees set automatic out-of-office messages indicating inability to respond until the shutdown ended. Hours later, many found their messages altered to include partisan language blaming Senate Democrats for the shutdown. The responsible party for the changes remains unknown. Some employees restored neutral messages provided by human resources, but multiple accounts reverted again to the partisan wording. Other agencies issued guidance for out-of-office messages; some suggested neutral text while some suggested wording that blamed Democrats. Screenshots and multiple internal sources corroborated the unexplained alterations.

Read at WIRED