Elon Musk Tells US Federal Employees To Justify Job Over Email – Or Risk Being Fired
Eleanor Burnard
Feb. 23, 2025, 6:28 a.m.
Billionaire Elon Musk tweeted on February 23 that all federal employees have been sent an email asking them to explain “what they got done last week” or risk losing their jobs.
“Consistent with President [Donald Trump’s] instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” the tweet reads.
Musk’s original tweet. (Source: X)
Musk, who is not only the CEO of Tesla and X (formerly known as Twitter) but is also a senior advisor to President Trump and head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), stated that any employees who do not respond will be fired.
“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
The email sent to federal employees – which included judges, prison officials, and lawyers – were asked them to provide “five bullet points of what you accomplished last week”, before February 24.
The email sent out to federal employees. (Source: X)
The email, sent by the Office of Personnel Management, did not include Musk’s threat of forced resignation that he mentioned in his initial tweet, but it did ask not to send through any classified information and documents.
In an email sent to National Public Radio (NPR) by a division in the Defence department, a supervisor advised staff not to respond until they received internal guidance.
The head of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), Everett Kelley, issued a statement saying that they would challenge any “unlawful” firing of federal employees as response to the email.
The AFGE represents more than 800,000 US federal workers.
“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,” Kelley’s statement read.
“It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life.
“AFGE will challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country.”
This news comes alongside Trump and Musk’s moves to shrink the US federal workforce, with Trump citing “wasteful spending” within the government as his reasoning behind massive layoffs, and further described it as “bloated” and “filled with people who are unnecessary” in an interview with TIME magazine last year.
Trump also took to Truth Social – a social media organisation owned by Trump Media & Technology Group – to praise Musk, but mentioned that he needs to “get more aggressive”.
Trump’s message to Musk. (Source: Truth Social)
The Trump administration previously ordered federal agencies to lay off almost all probationary employees who have been working for less than a year on February 13.
Thousands of employees have already been laid off, however it is not confirmed how many have lost their jobs due to the recent email request.
The Associated Press has written a comprehensive guide on the workers who have and will be affected by the shrinking workforce.
Departments affected include workers in Veteran Affairs, Defense, Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service, and the National Parks Service.
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