(NewsNation) — Elon Musk told hundreds of thousands of federal employees Monday they have “another chance” to justify their recent accomplishments or risk losing their jobs.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” he wrote on X, referring to federal employees who didn’t respond to an initial email asking them to list five things they accomplished last week by 11:59 p.m. Monday.
The original deadline for employees to comply passed and appeared to contradict guidance from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) which told federal departments and agencies the responses were “voluntary.” Multiple federal agencies had told their employees to disregard Musk’s initial directive, at least temporarily.
There is no word yet on how many federal workers complied with the original directive.
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Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency, sent an email to hundreds of thousands of federal employees Saturday, giving them roughly 48 hours to report five specific things they had accomplished last week. In a separate message posted on social media, Musk said any employee who failed to respond by the deadline — set in the email as 11:59 p.m. EST Monday — would lose their job.
OPM issued a memo Monday to federal departments and agencies, clarifying that it was not mandatory for workers to respond to the email.
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The office later clarified individual agencies must decide if they require responses and to determine the consequences of those who fail to do so. It added that agencies should consider whether the “accomplishment bullets” should be integrated into the agency’s weekly activity report.
Hours later, Musk again threatened federal workers in a post on X.
President Donald Trump signaled his support of Musk early Monday, two days after the email was sent.
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Musk’s unusual demand has faced resistance from several key U.S. agencies led by the president’s loyalists — including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security and the Pentagon — which instructed their employees over the weekend not to comply. Lawmakers in both parties said that Musk’s mandate may be illegal, while unions are threatening to sue.
Amid federal budget cuts, NewsNation has received messages from workers affected by the layoffs, with some departments letting longtime workers go.
One federal worker from the Department of Health and Human Services shared an email with NewsNation they received at 5 p.m. ET Monday night. “No HHS expectation that HHS employees respond to OPM and there is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond,” the email read.
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However, if employees did respond, they were advised to tailor their answers as if “malign foreign actors” might read them.
A Veterans Affairs worker told NewsNation that some nurses came in on their day off Monday, bringing their children, to fill out the required bullet points. These workers were unable to access email from home due to firewall restrictions, creating anxiety about possible consequences.
One VA worker expressed concern about how these changes could impact veterans’ services. “Making efficient is one thing, shrinking and crippling is another,” the employee said. “Ultimately, they are taking away protection and support for Americans. That is what I am most concerned about.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
