Musk orders federal workers back to work Monday or resign
WASHINGTON D.C.—The Trump administration on Saturday evening emailed US federal government employees telling them to return to work on Monday and detail their work accomplishments from the previous week or risk losing their jobs.
The emails came shortly after Elon Musk, the billionaire head of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), posted on his social media site X that not responding to the email request would be viewed as a resignation.
“All federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk had posted on X. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Musk issued his post just hours after President Donald Trump posted on his own social media network, Truth Social, that Doge should get more aggressive in its attempts to downsize and reshape the 2.3 million-strong federal workforce.
As of Saturday evening, emails were sent to employees across federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others with the subject line, “What did you do last week?”
The email, seen by Reuters, asks employees to reply with five bullet points summarizing “what you accomplished at work last week,” and to copy their managers.
It was sent from a human resources address from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and gives employees until 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday to respond.
Judiciary also emailed
It is unclear what legal basis Musk has to terminate federal workers if they fail to respond to his request and what would happen to employees that cannot detail confidential work.
Some federal judiciary employees received the email on Saturday from OPM, even though the court system is not part of the executive branch, people familiar with the matter said.
Workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also received the email, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
However, most agency staff had been ordered not to perform any tasks since early this month, creating a conundrum. The agency is also under a temporary court order not to resume mass firings pending the outcome of legal proceedings.
Don’t respond
The American Federation of Government Employees, the union representing federal employees, said it will challenge any “unlawful terminations.”
“Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people,” said Afge president Everett Kelley.
Some federal agencies sent follow-up emails to employees advising staff not to respond to the email over the weekend, as they assess its validity and devise a protocol for responding.
“To be clear, this is irregular, unexpected and warrants further validation by management,” said one email sent to employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
