Federal workers who failed to respond to the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) productivity check-in email will have “another chance” to reply before facing termination, Elon Musk said Monday.
Federal agency employees received an email Saturday instructing them to outline five things they accomplished in the past week, with Musk warning that “failure to respond” by the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline “will be taken as a resignation.” After multiple agencies directed staff to ignore the ultimatum, some citing security concerns, Musk said federal employees would have a reprieve in an X post Monday evening.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), wrote. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
The directive was among the first clashes between DOGE and President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, with several agencies — including the Departments of Defense, State, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence — reportedly instructing staff to disregard the email due to the sensitive nature of agency work. HHS sent an agency-wide email warning that “malign foreign actors” could intercept their responses, according to NBC News. The Pentagon seemed similarly reluctant to comply, insisting it would “conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures” in an X post Sunday.
OPM then reportedly clarified Monday afternoon that replying to the email was “voluntary” and that a “non-response to the email does not equate to a resignation” in an email to agencies obtained by The Hill. The president added to the conflicting messaging Monday afternoon, echoing Musk’s stance on the directive in an Oval Office meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
“I thought [the email] was great, because we have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government. So by asking the question, ‘Tell us what you did this week,’ what he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said. “And then if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired. Because a lot of people are not answering because they don’t even exist.”
The broad defiance of the email order seemed to frustrate Musk, who called the request “utterly trivial” and an “inane test” in an X post Monday evening.
“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” Musk wrote. “Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent? Makes old Twitter look good. Didn’t think that was possible.”
The apparent incongruity between Musk, DOGE and the White House’s instructions has reportedly been a source of tension for administration officials, including Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who privately informed Musk that “we need to message all this. We need to be looped in,” sources told Reuters on Feb. 14.
The “what did you do last week” subject line seems to reference a leaked text message exchange between former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal and Musk during his hostile takeover of the social media company in 2022. It is unclear when Musk’s renewed deadline for responding to the email directive expires.
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