Document work or resign: Elon Musk issues ultimatum to hundreds of thousands of US federal employees

23 February 2025, 07:45 | Updated: 23 February 2025, 07:51

Elon Musk has handed an ultimatum to hundreds of thousands of US federal workers, giving them 48 hours to explain what they accomplished last week or risk losing their jobs.

The stark email appeared in the inboxes of a host of federal workers - including judges and scientists, insisting they write five bullet points explaining what they accomplished last week.

The move sparked confusion across key government agencies, as President Donald Trump's cost-cutting chief turned his attention to new areas of the federal government.

The billionaire, who serves as the head of the White House's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), says those who fail to respond to this email by 11.59pm on Monday night face losing their jobs.

Mr Musk teased the extraordinary request on his social media account on Saturday ahead of the email being sent.

"Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump's instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week," Musk posted on X.

"Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."

Understandably, the email caused widespread confusion and questions over the legality of such a demand from Musk - a non-appointed official.

According to a White House legal filing, Musk officially has no federal government role or authority to make such demands of workers.

The email contained three-line of text, with the instruction: "Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager."

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"The deadline to reply is Monday at 11.59pm, although the email did not include Mr Musk's social media threat about those who fail to respond."

The email has caused widespread pushback, with the FBI and its newly sworn-in director, Kash Patel, delivering among the strongest responses.

It's reported the director, sending his own email to employees in response to Musk's demands, attempted to clarify the bureaus position.

“FBI personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information," he began.

"The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures,” Patel wrote, according to NBC.

The latest unusual directive from Mr Musk's team injects a new sense of chaos across beleaguered multiple agencies, including the National Weather Service and the State Department, as senior officials worked to verify the message's authenticity on Saturday night and in some cases, instructed their employees not to respond.

Thousands of government employees have already been forced out of the federal workforce - either by being fired or offered a buyout - during the first month of Trump's administration as the White House and Mr Musk's department fire both new and career workers, tell agency leaders to plan for "large-scale reductions in force" and freeze trillions of dollars in federal grant funds.

There is no official figure available for the total firings or redundancies so far, but The Associated Press has tallied hundreds of thousands of workers who are being affected.

Many work outside of Washington. The cuts include thousands at the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Defense, Health and Human Services, the Internal Revenue Service and the National Parks Service, among others.

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) president Everett Kelley quickly condemned the ultimatum as an example of Mr Trump and Mr Musk's "utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people".

"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," Mr Kelley said.

"AFGE will challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country."

Mr Musk on Friday celebrated his new role at a gathering of conservatives by waving a giant chainsaw in the air. He called it "the chainsaw for bureaucracy" and said "waste is pretty much everywhere" in the federal government. McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson at the Office of Personnel Management, confirmed Mr Musk's directive and said that individual agencies would "determine any next steps."

What happens if an employee is on leave or vacation? Again, she said individual agencies would determine how to proceed.

The National Weather Service leadership acknowledged some confusion in a message to employees Saturday night. "Within the last few hours, some of us - potentially all of us - received an email message titled 'What did you do last week?'

"Until such time as we can verify that the message that was received at or around 4.46pm ET is authentic, please do not respond."