6 hours ago
Last Updated:February 23, 2025, 07:58 IST
The new directive came hours after President Donald Trump said that DOGE should be more aggressive in its attempts to downsize and reshape the federal workforce.
Elon Musk and his DOGE have been tasked with slashing government spending. (File Photo: AP)
Elon Musk, the head of the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration, threatened on Saturday to fire any US federal employee who fails to submit a detailed accounting of their work week.
The new directive came hours after President Donald Trump posted on his own social media network, Truth Social, that DOGE should be more aggressive in its attempts to downsize and reshape the federal workforce.
Musk, who has been assigned the task of helping to reduce US government spending and waste, took to X to announce the new arrangement.
“Consistent with the President’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," Musk said in a post on X.
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
Musk’s department has sent emails to federal employees of agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and others.
Notably, the subject line reads: “What did you do last week?"
The email, as reported by Reuters, asks employees to reply to the email they have received with five bullet points summarising “what you accomplished at work last week" and copy their managers. The email sent from a human resources address gives employees until 11:59 pm EST on Monday to respond.
It is unclear what legal basis Musk has to terminate federal workers if they fail to respond to his request.
Workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau also received the email on Saturday, according to sources familiar with the matter. However, most agency staff had been instructed not to carry out any tasks since the beginning of the month, resulting in a dilemma. Additionally, the agency is under a temporary court order preventing it from resuming mass firings until legal proceedings conclude.
Legal Trouble For DOGE?
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), one of the largest federal employee unions representing 8,00,000 federal and DC government workers, said in a statement that it will challenge any “unlawful terminations."
“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," said AFGE President Everett Kelley.
The Trump administration’s fast-paced and controversial process to reduce government spending by shrinking the federal workforce led by Musk and his young aides at the cost-cutting DOGE has led to haphazard firings that resulted in numerous mistakes and forced several agencies to quickly rehire vital employees, such as those working on nuclear safety, defence and power generation.
The first wave of job cuts has targeted workers who are easier to fire, such as “probationary" employees on the job for less than two years or those who have started new roles within an agency.
The indiscriminate firings have led to DOGE terminating people whose jobs are not funded by taxpayers and have begun to anger people across the country who are concerned about a loss of services as well as the impact of federal job losses on local economies.
United States of America (USA)
First Published:February 23, 2025, 07:54 IST
News world ‘Submit Work Report Or Lose Job’: Elon Musk To US Govt Employees As DOGE Pushes For Job Cuts
