Elon Musk said Monday that federal employees would be given “another chance” to reply to an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) asking them what they accomplished over the past week or face termination.
Musk had initially set a deadline at 11:59 pm Monday to respond or be terminated, but he did not provide a deadline for those given “another chance” to provide the requested information.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” Musk posted on X on Monday evening. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance.
Failure to respond a second time will result in termination. https://t.co/04xzgScXfj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2025
The latest message has caused confusion among some federal workers in what has been perceived as conflicting instructions. Musk’s comments come as OPM said in a memo on Monday evening that “Agency heads may exclude personnel from this expectation at their discretion and should inform OPM of the categories of the employees excluded and reasons for exclusion.” In earlier guidance, OPM reportedly said it had “informed agencies that employee responses to the OPM email is voluntary.”
Previously, President Donald Trump said that it would be possible that those who don’t respond might lose their jobs.
Musk, who has led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort, made the comments in response to a post from Daily Wire host Matt Walsh, who urged the Trump administration to fire any worker who didn’t answer the email or complained about it.
“Fire any federal worker who didn’t answer the email. Fire any who complained publicly about the email. Fire any who complained privately about the email. Fire any who did anything but cheerfully and promptly answer it,” Walsh said.
The original email sent out by OPM had the subject line, “What did you do last week?” and instructed employees to reply with a list of roughly five accomplishments and carbon-copy their managers. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” Musk posted on social media.
However, on Monday, OPM said it had “clarified that a non-response to the email does not equate to a resignation.”
Later guidance from OPM further clarified how OPM would be handling the memo.
“(A)gencies should consider any appropriate actions regarding employees who fail to respond to activity/accomplishment requests. It is agency leadership’s decision as to what actions are taken,” said Acting OPM Director Charles Ezell.
Some agencies, including the FBI and State Department, instructed personnel to ignore the email, noting they have their own procedures.
Trump said that agencies telling their workers to ignore the email was “done in a friendly manner” with confidentiality in mind and was not a rebuke of Musk. He also praised the sending of the letter, saying it was part of his efforts to cut down on government waste.
“There was a lot of genius in sending it. We’re trying to find out if people are working and so we’re sending a letter to people: ‘Please tell us what you did last week.’ If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working.”
