Elon Musk Threatens to Fire US Government Workers Unless They Email List of 5 Weekly Accomplishments

Elon Musk has given all U.S. government workers a second opportunity to respond to an email detailing their achievements at work over the past week or face termination from their jobs.

Musk, whom Trump appointed as DOGE Chief, announced on Monday, February 24, that federal workers may receive a follow-up email requesting a list of their weekly accomplishments. He warned that failure to respond would result in “termination.”

The businessman’s warning came hours after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) informed human resource leaders across multiple agencies that responses to emails sent on Saturday, February 22—which demanded five bullet points outlining federal workers’ achievements over the previous five working days—were “voluntary.”

The OPM clarified that failure to respond would not be considered a resignation, contrary to Musk’s earlier claims.

However, Musk has now doubled down, insisting that employees who fail to respond will indeed be fired.

“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” Musk wrote on X. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”

“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” he wrote in a separate post. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”

The billionaire head of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) argued that the level of concern sparked by the initial demand was “absurd” and indicative of “something deeply wrong” with the federal workforce.

Responses to the first round of “what you accomplished” emails were due by 11:59 p.m. ET on Monday.

Trump, 78, defended the Musk-led initiative hours before the OPM’s updated guidance was circulated.

“I thought it was great because we have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. “What he’s doing is saying ‘Are you actually working?’”

A revised lawsuit filed in San Francisco federal court, challenging OPM’s move to terminate probationary federal workers, referenced Musk’s email directive in its attempt to overturn the mass firings.

The lawsuit claimed that the Trump administration did not adhere to the standard procedures for dismissing employees as outlined in the Administrative Procedure Act.

“OPM has not complied with any procedural requirements,” the amended lawsuit noted. “At least some federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, began telling their employees not to respond to this OPM surprise request.”

Musk tweeted that federal workers “hate even the tiniest amount of accountability,” in response to lawsuits over the emails.