Confusion Reigns for Federal Workers After Ultimatum From Elon Musk

WASHINGTON — The deadline came and went at midnight Monday for federal workers to respond to Elon Musk’s email requiring them to justify their job performance in the past week or get fired.

Federal workers are saying Tuesday that the only thing they know is that they are confused.

Musk continues to insist a non-response to his email is the same as a resignation but is giving government employees another opportunity.

“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” he posted on X, his social media platform. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”

He and the Department of Government Efficiency he leads plan to use artificial intelligence to analyze whether the workers are doing their jobs properly. 

President Donald Trump supported Musk’s ultimatum despite conflicting information from several government agencies.

“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said at the White House during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. “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.”

Two hours later, the Office of Personnel Management told more than 2 million employees that responding was voluntary but they would suffer no consequences if they refused.

The only certainty coming out of the dispute so far is that it has added evidence to a lawsuit by government employees who challenge Musk’s authority. They say an unelected government official with no mandate from Congress lacks a basis in the Constitution to decide whether they should be fired.

Musk’s ultimatum was sent by email on Saturday. It said, “Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”

The email was sent from the Office of Personnel Management.

The amended lawsuit by government employees filed in federal court in California says, “No OPM rule, regulation, policy, or program has ever, in United States history, purported to require all federal workers to submit reports to OPM.”

It called the threat of mass firings “one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.”

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of unions, businesses, veterans and conservation organizations represented by the group State Democracy Defenders Fund.

Other resistance is coming from top officials from the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Education, Commerce, Energy, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. They told their employees in emails to ignore the ultimatum that originated in the Department of Government Efficiency.

They said they would respond on behalf of their departments but no individual responses from employees were necessary.

“Given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work, [intelligence community] employees should not respond to the OPM email,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard wrote in an email to her employees.

Musk’s demand represented a rare disagreement among high-level Trump administration officials as he continues what he describes as an effort to cut waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.

The Department of Government Efficiency claims to have saved taxpayers $55 billion so far, largely through layoffs targeted at 20,000 employees.

The effect on the federal workforce from Musk’s ultimatum remained uncertain Tuesday.

So far, no additional layoffs have been announced against employees who did not respond to the email.

Other dissent is coming from within the Department of Government Efficiency, where 21 staff members resigned in protest Tuesday.

The engineers, data scientists and product managers said in a joint letter of resignation that they could no longer tolerate the mass firings that they say are hurting the government’s ability to provide critical services.

“We swore to serve the American people and uphold our oath to the Constitution,” says the letter obtained by the Associated Press. “However, it has become clear that we can no longer honor those commitments.”

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