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Washington, D.C.—The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) endorsed legislation filed today to provide lifetime identity-theft protection to all individuals whose personnel records were compromised by hackers, who got into Office of Personnel Management (OPM) databases.

The RECOVER Act (Reducing the Effects of the Cyberattack on OPM Victims Emergency Response Act of 2015) mandates expanded identity theft coverage for federal workers, contractors and other affected individuals, including lifetime coverage and not less than $5 million of ID theft insurance.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), along with Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.), introduced the Senate version, while Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) introduced the House measure.

“I thank Senators Cardin, Mikulski, Warner, Kaine and Congresswoman Norton for introducing this critically important bill,” NTEU National President Colleen M. Kelley said. “Federal employees are required to submit personal, sensitive and confidential information as a condition of employment, and their records deserve the highest levels of protection. The RECOVER Act will go a long way toward protecting individuals from ID theft problems stemming from these devastating data breaches.”

In its July 8 lawsuit, NTEU accused OPM of violating the privacy rights of its members by failing to properly secure their confidential information. Kelley said today NTEU will continue to pursue that lawsuit, which seeks lifetime credit monitoring in addition to ID-theft protections, and is also pressing Congress and White House to prevent such attacks from happening again.

NTEU is the largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.