Federal employees across the U.S. government received an unexpected email Saturday demanding they justify their work or risk losing their jobs, as the Trump administration implements sweeping changes to the federal workforce.
Elon Musk, leading the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), announced on social media platform X that federal workers must provide “approximately 5 bullets” describing their weekly accomplishments. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) subsequently sent emails to employees giving them until Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET to respond. While Musk stated on X that failure to respond would be considered a resignation, this warning was notably absent from the official OPM email.
The move comes amid broader changes in federal employment. OPM has already begun laying off its procurement team, with separation notices giving workers 60 days until their positions are “abolished.” According to an affected employee, approximately 57 employees in the Office of Procurement Operations would be impacted. The procurement functions will transfer to the General Services Administration, according to affected employees.
“People will suffer and the job will not get done without our work,” said one OPM employee who requested anonymity. “There was no thought to this, it’s a clean cleaving of an entire function of an agency and the agency will not be able to function properly without it.”
The demand for work justification has created confusion across federal agencies. Kash Patel instructed FBI employees to ignore the email until further notice. Similarly, Defense Department supervisors told staff to await internal guidance before responding.
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Legal experts question the directive’s validity. “There is zero basis in the civil service system for this,” said Sam Bagenstos, former general counsel to the Office of Management and Budget and University of Michigan law professor. “This is obviously designed to intimidate employees.”
Labor attorney Suzanne Summerlin noted that while outright termination for not responding would likely be illegal, employees could face other disciplinary actions like suspension or reprimand.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has promised to challenge any unlawful terminations. AFGE President Everett Kelley criticized the directive as “cruel and disrespectful” particularly to veteran civil servants.
The approach mirrors tactics Musk previously employed at Twitter (now X) during his 2022 takeover, where he told employees to print out code they had written recently as an exercise to prove how hard they worked. President Trump endorsed Musk’s methods, posting on social media: “Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him be more aggressive.”
For current federal workers, the impact is immediate and personal. One National Institutes of Health staff member, speaking anonymously, described feeling “terrorized” upon receiving the email. At the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, recently furloughed employees worry about having no accomplishments to report.
The OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover stated the email request is “part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce,” adding that “agencies will determine any next steps.”
This development represents a significant challenge to federal employment practices, affecting federal workers across numerous government agencies nationwide. As agencies and employees grapple with the directive, its full impact on government operations and services remains to be seen.
