Elon Musk email to federal employees targeted in lawsuit
Elon Musk's email to federal works met with resistance
Fox 5's Melanie Alnwick joins LiveNOW from FOX to talk about an email Elon Musk sent to federal workers. Musk requested employees to send 'What they got done' a week prior. Some government agencies have emailed employees to disregard.
A lawsuit has been filed against Elon Musk’s email threat to federal employees that was relayed over the weekend.
Attorneys for federal workers say in a lawsuit that Musk violated the law with his weekend demand that employees explain their accomplishments or risk being fired.
Elon Musk email to federal employees
The backstory:
Elon Musk tweeted on Saturday that all federal employees will be asked to report "what they got done last week," and that failure to reply would be considered a resignation.
Shortly afterward, federal employees received a three-line email telling them to share "approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager."
The deadline to reply was listed as 11:59 p.m. EST on Monday.
Screenshots of the email sent to FOX Television Stations by a federal employee who wished to remain anonymous. (Images: FTS)
RELATED: Elon Musk says federal employees must email ‘what they got done last week’
Just hours after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management had directed agencies that responses to its email were optional, Musk again threatened federal workers in a post on X, his social media platform Monday evening.
He wrote: "Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination."
President Donald Trump backed Musk earlier Monday, two days after OPM initially sent an email asking federal workers to list five things they accomplished last week. Several government agencies, including the FBI and State Department, have told their employees not to respond.
Federal workers given another chance to respond to Musk email
In a post on X Monday night, Elon Musk gave an update on his email to federal workers demanding a response on what they accomplished last week. He said "Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination." Over the weekend, several key U.S. agencies instructed staff to "pause" any responses to the email. Federal employees have since sued Musk, who was tapped by President Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Elon Musk lawsuit
FILE - CEO of Tesla and SpaceX Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort Hotel And Convention Center on February 20, 2025 in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Big picture view:
A lawsuit filed Monday is trying to block mass layoffs that could go into effect this week in connection with the email distributed by the Office of Personnel Management on Saturday on behalf of Musk and Trump.
Trump over the weekend had encouraged Musk to "get more aggressive" with his work of cutting federal spending.
What they're saying:
Over the weekend, Musk’s email was met with resistance. Key federal agencies from the FBI and State Department to the Pentagon instructed their employees not to comply.
On Monday, The Associated Press reported the Office of Personnel Management informed agency leaders that compliance with Musk's demand was voluntary, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters.
RELATED: Elon Musk email to federal employees met with resistance
Federal employees fired
The backstory:
Layoffs and firings have affected many federal departments in recent weeks.
Since Donald Trump took office in January, one of his top priorities has been cutting and reorganizing spending within the federal government.
The president has tapped billionaire businessman Elon Musk to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with finding and prioritizing what to cut. Thousands of federal government employees have been laid off or fired in the process.
By the numbers:
The federal government consists of about 2.4 million civilians. 20% of them live in the Washington, D.C. region.
There is no official figure available for the total firings or layoffs, but The Associated Press has confirmed, or learned via sources, and reported the following number of firings in these departments:
- Agriculture Department: Layoffs of about 2,000 "probationary, non-firefighting employees" were expected
- Defense Department: 5,400 probationary workers
- Department of Health and Human Services: About 700 probationary employees with the CDC, and others at other agencies
- Department of Homeland Security: 405 probationary staffers
- Department of Veterans Affairs: 1,000 employees serving for less than two years
- Education Department: At least 39 people
- Energy Department: As many as 350 employees
- Inspectors general: At least 17
- Internal Revenue Service: Cuts are expected soon for thousands of probationary workers, according to sources
- Justice Department: More than a dozen career employees
- National Park Service: About 1,000 newly-hired employees
The other side:
According to the agency’s website, as of Feb. 17, 2025, DOGE estimates its savings around $55 billion. The agency attributes this to "a combination of fraud detection/deletion, contract/lease cancelations, contract/lease renegotiations, asset sales, grant cancelations, workforce reductions, programmatic changes, and regulatory savings."
The Source: Information in this article was taken from a lawsuit filed in federal court in California and provided to The Associated Press. Background information was taken from previous FOX Television Station reportings. Department layoff numbers were reported by The Associated Press. Screenshots of the email were sent to FTS by a source that wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. This story was reported from Detroit.