Federal employees told to justify jobs in email or Musk says they face dismissal
In President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s latest move targeting the federal workforce, employees began receiving emails Saturday asking them to explain what work they did last week, as Musk announced that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments,” reads the email, which comes from the Office of Personnel Management’s HR email address but has no signature.
The email’s subject line reads: “What did you do last week?” CNN has obtained copies of emails sent to federal employees in multiple agencies. Many were sent with high importance or red exclamation marks.
The email blast came on the heels of a social media post by Musk threatening the jobs of workers who do not comply.
“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 Saturday on X, hours after Trump suggested he be more “aggressive.”
However, the email itself does not state that failure to answer will be taken as resignation. It says the deadline for submission is Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
The email sent shockwaves through a federal workforce already reeling from an array of orders from the Trump administration, including the recent termination of thousands of employees on probationary status, a deferred resignation offer that many viewed as questionable and a requirement to return to the office full-time, among others.
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One president of a union chapter started getting texts from concerned members “nonstop” following Musk’s post and the OPM email.
“I don’t have any clue what in the world that email means either,” the union official told CNN, noting they are telling members to “just stand by until I advise otherwise.”
The Monday deadline also raises questions about what happens to workers who are on vacation or sick leave, the official noted. “Are they subject to termination because they are not available to respond?”
Other workers have told CNN that they do classified work that they cannot divulge in an email or don’t have access to computers all the time, which could cause them to miss the deadline.
Another head of a union chapter told worried members not to respond to the email until Monday and to await further guidance from the union.
The head of a top union representing federal workers lambasted Musk’s ultimatum, telling CNN in a statement that it reflects the Trump administration’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,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 800,000 federal workers.
Kelley said his union plans to take legal action to “challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees.”
Two other federal employee unions — the National Treasury Employees Union and the National Federation of Federal Employees — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One federal worker told CNN that they find the demand “insulting” and “absolutely mind-blowing,” especially considering their activity at work is already tracked.
“It’s callous and calculating and just another low-down tactic to get rid of employees they haven’t been able to touch yet,” the worker said of Musk’s post saying a non-response would be considered a resignation.
Another federal staffer told CNN that they feel compelled to reply.
“Personally, I’m afraid to not respond by the deadline based on Elon’s tweets that non-response would be considered a resignation,” said the worker, who noted that their friends at another agency “are on the fence on whether to respond with actual accomplishments or to respond with bullets of the oath we took to the Constitution.”
Shortly after Musk’s post, Trump called the X owner a “patriot” and said he was “doing a great job” during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Trump has tapped Musk to reshape the federal government with his Department of Government Efficiency. But whether Musk’s latest move is legal is unclear.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Musk’s comments follow a post from Trump on Saturday morning suggesting he’d like to see the tech billionaire get more aggressive.
“ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE. REMEMBER, WE HAVE A COUNTRY TO SAVE, BUT ULTIMATELY, TO MAKE GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. MAGA!” Trump’s post read. Musk replied, “Will do, Mr. President!” in his own post.
The emails come as Musk and Trump seek to reshape the federal workforce — including reducing its size, replacing career workers with political appointees, wiping away some civil service protections, ending diversity efforts and more.
This story has been updated with new reporting.
CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
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Document work or resign, Doge tells US federal workers in email
Federal workers received an email Saturday afternoon asking them to list their accomplishments from the past week or resign – the latest development in the Trump administration’s efforts targeting the federal workforce.
The emails came after billionaire and Trump confidante Elon Musk tweeted Saturday that workers would “shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week”.
“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” he wrote.
Musk has been leading an outside effort to aggressively curtail government spending through aggressive funding cuts and firings.
The email arrived in inboxes shortly after President Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac). The messages came with the subject line “What did you do last week?” from a sender listed as HR.
In a copy of the email obtained by the BBC, employees were asked to explain their accomplishments from the past week in five bullet points – without disclosing classified information – before Monday at midnight.
The Office of Personnel Management, the federal government’s human resources agency, confirmed the emails were authentic in a statement to CBS, the BBC’s US news partner.
“As part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce, OPM is asking employees to provide a brief summary of what they did last week by the end of Monday, CC’ing their manager. Agencies will determine any next steps.”
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal employees, criticised the message as “cruel and disrespectful” and vowed to challenge any “unlawful terminations” of federal employees.
“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,” Everett Kelley, union president, said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, President Donald Trump touted cuts and told a crowd of supporters at Cpac that the work of federal employees was inadequate because they did not come into the office.
The Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) is not an official government department, but Musk’s team has exacted wide-ranging changes to the US federal infrastructure with approval from the White House.
Thousands of government employees at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Pentagon and the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as other agencies, have been fired in recent weeks.
The email mirrors Musk’s handling of employees after he acquired social media platform Twitter in 2022. As the staff there shrunk under his ownership, he issued ultimatums that included a now-infamous request to commit to being “extremely hardcore” at work or resign.
Trump has repeatedly applauded Musk’s cost-cutting measures.
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