Elon Musk at CPAC© Getty
Elon Musk has issued a new ultimatum to federal workers who were asked to list their accomplishments via email, writing: “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
Musk said that if President Trump approves, these workers will be given “another chance” to respond.
His new X post came as senior officials told federal employees to ignore the Tesla CEO’s demand and spoke out against the need to justify their jobs.
He now heads the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which finds wasteful government spending. He has emailed United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) employees asking them to list their productivity for the department to review.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” he posted on X.
Trump backed Musk earlier Monday, two days after OPM initially sent an email asking federal workers to list five things they accomplished last week.
Several government agencies have told their employees not to respond.
President Trump backed Musk’s demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk being fired, even though government agency officials were told that complying with Musk’s edict was voluntary.
Confusion and anger over the situation spawned new litigation and turmoil within the federal workforce.
“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?'” During a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump said in the Oval Office. “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired, or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.”
The Republican president said Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has found “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud” as he suggested that federal paychecks go to nonexistent employees. He did not present evidence for his claims.
Haunting new nuclear map shows where 75% of US population would die in WW3 [SPOTLIGHT]
Doomsday map shows major US cities set to vanish underwater in 75 years [REPORT]
Stephen Hawking’s end-of-world prediction supported by NASA [LATEST]
But even as Trump and Musk pressed their case, the Office of Personnel Management informed agency leaders that their workforces were not required to respond by Monday’s deadline of 11:59 p.m. EST, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters.
Just after 7 p.m. EST – hours after OPM had directed agencies that responses were optional – Musk again threatened federal workers in a post on X, his social media platform. He wrote: “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
The conflicting directives led to varying advice for federal employees, depending on where they work. Some were told to answer the request for five things they did last week, others were informed it was optional, and others were directed not to respond.
Attorneys representing unions, businesses, veterans and conservation organizations filed an updated lawsuit in federal court in California on Monday, arguing Musk had violated the law by threatening mass firings.
The lawsuit, spearheaded by the State Democracy Defenders Fund, called it “one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.”
Anna Kelly, a White House deputy press secretary, criticized the litigation by saying “in the time it took these employees on taxpayer-funded salaries to file a frivolous lawsuit, they could have briefly recapped their accomplishments to their managers, as is common in the private sector, 100 times over.”
Musk is leading Trump’s efforts to overhaul and downsize the federal government. They’ve urged employees to resign, directed agencies to lay off probationary workers and halted work at some agencies altogether.
