Elon Musk says federal workers must justify their work — or resign

Billionaire Elon Musk issued an ultimatum to federal employees Saturday, saying in a post on his social media platform X that employees must respond to an email justifying the work they completed this week or resign.

Federal employees have already begun receiving an email asking to summarize their work, sources familiar with the matter told NBC News, though unlike Musk’s post, it does not explicitly threaten a forced resignation.

The email, sent from the Office of Personnel Management and shared with NBC News, asked employees to send approximately five bullet points listing what they accomplished this week, CC’ing their managers.

The email reviewed by NBC News requested that employees not send any classified information, links or attachments. It said employees must respond by a deadline of Monday at 11:59 p.m. ET.

“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,” Musk wrote.

Over 3 million people were employed by the federal government as of November 2024, according to Pew Research Center.

OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pineover said in a statement to NBC News that the office is requesting employees summarize their work.

“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,” Pineover wrote.

Everett Kelley, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, condemned Musk and the Trump administration for the email Saturday, vowing to challenge “unlawful terminations” of the union’s members and federal employees across the country.

“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,” Kelley said in a statement.

“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,” Kelley added.

A chapter representing National Treasury Employees Union members who work for the FDA’s headquarters “strongly” advised members not to respond, adding that the NTEU and its office of general counsel are “taking immediate action.”

“We work for HHS/FDA, not OPM: OPM directives that have not been formally adopted or communicated by our employer, the FDA, do not create an obligation for you to respond,” the NTEU chapter’s guidance said.

The email comes as Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency attempt to make sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, including mass federal layoffs, the accidental firing of Department of Agriculture officials who were working on the government’s response to the bird flu, and the attempts at dismantling of agencies such as USAID.