--- title: Musk Says Federal Workers Will Be Given ‘Another Chance’ at Email Ultimatum description: The request for employees to outline their job accomplishments has been met with pushback from departments and agencies. canonical: https://time.com/7261317/musk-email-federal-workers-job-accomplishments-ultimatum-fired-departments-agencies/ author: Chad de Guzman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-02-25T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:50:10.639Z article:section: Politics og:title: Musk Says Federal Workers Will Be Given ‘Another Chance’ at Email Ultimatum og:description: The request for employees to outline their job accomplishments has been met with pushback from departments and agencies. og:url: https://time.com/7261317/musk-email-federal-workers-job-accomplishments-ultimatum-fired-departments-agencies/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f503104e585f3a4/6998c45be1ba00f16598d4da/elon-musk_2b2875.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Conservatives Gather For Annual CPAC Conference In Washington DC og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Musk Says Federal Workers Will Be Given ‘Another Chance’ at Email Ultimatum twitter:description: The request for employees to outline their job accomplishments has been met with pushback from departments and agencies. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f503104e585f3a4/6998c45be1ba00f16598d4da/elon-musk_2b2875.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Musk Says Federal Workers Who Didn’t Respond to Email About Job Will Be Given ‘Another Chance’ Before Being Fired > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: White House Says Musk Part of Trump’s ‘Unified Team’ as Agencies Undermine Him [Watch (HLS stream): White House Says Musk Part of Trump’s ‘Unified Team’ as Agencies Undermine Him](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EY9DpRBI.m3u8) (3:49)  _Published 2025-02-25. The Trump Administration on Tuesday continued to voice support for Elon Musk’s controversial push to require federal workers to summarize what they accomplished last week or face termination—despite mounting confusion and resistance from even some Trump-appointed agency heads. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Trump stands firmly behind the Tesla CEO’s latest directive and defended Musk’s latest email campaign, yet also suggested agency leaders—not Musk—have the last word on whether employees should even bother to respond. The move has already caused significant chaos across federal agencies, with many department heads advising workers to ignore Musk’s directive altogether._  by [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Feb 25, 2025 5:00 AM UTC  Billionaire tech CEO and presidential adviser Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 20, 2025. Billionaire tech CEO and presidential adviser Elon Musk speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Oxon Hill, Md., on Feb. 20, 2025. Andrew Harnik—Getty Images  by [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Feb 25, 2025 5:00 AM UTC The deadline has passed for federal employees to respond to Elon Musk’s request that they outline their accomplishments at work last week or [lose their job](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1893386883444437415), but it appears no workers will face any consequences for not responding—for now, at least. President Donald Trump on Monday called the ultimatum by Musk “[genius](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbjSc%5FvvyoE),” but the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is effectively the government’s HR office and which sent the directive on Saturday, [informed](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/opm-musks-ultimatum-voluntary-after-weekend-confusion/story?id=119127113) agency heads that responding was not in fact mandatory. On Monday night, Musk suggested that he will issue the directive again, and it will be mandatory. Responding on his social media platform X to a user calling for the firing of workers who failed to respond to the email or who complained about it, [Musk posted](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1894177129887404484): “Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.” Musk complained of the widespread recalcitrance to his initial directive in [another post on X](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1894173297786720718): “The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send! Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.” While several departments—including [Commerce](https://x.com/SamanthaJoRoth/status/1894119170234544132), [Interior](https://x.com/saraecook/status/1894175691215655163/), and [Veterans Affairs](https://x.com/kristina%5Fwong/status/1893997833335738731)—reportedly urged employees to respond to the email, many other departments and agencies pushed back, seeming to try to wrest back oversight of their workforces from Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. **Read More:** [_Inside Elon Musk’s War on Washington_](https://time.com/7213409/elon-musk-us-government-trump/) Staff at the Department of [Health and Human Services](https://x.com/ddiamond/status/1894148720905625764) (HHS) reportedly received a message stating there “is no HHS expectation” to respond to the OPM email and that employment would not be affected by not responding. It added guidance for those who did choose to respond, including taking steps to protect sensitive information: “Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors.” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also reportedly told personnel of the [intelligence community](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/us/politics/elon-musk-email-federal-workers.html) not to answer the OPM email, the _New York Times_ reported, “given the inherently sensitive and classified nature of our work.” The [Department of Defense](https://x.com/DeptofDefense/status/1893749113876787235) also asked its employees to hold off on replying to the OPM email. In a statement shared on X, Darin Selnick, who is performing the duties of the under secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness, said the department “is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel” and that it will conduct review “in accordance with its own procedures.” Selnick added that “when and if required,” the department will respond to the OPM email on behalf of its workforce. [FBI](https://x.com/KFaulders/status/1893473744913305653) Director Kash Patel reportedly issued a similar directive, saying the bureau “is in charge of all of our review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures.” Tibor Nagy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, also told [State Department](https://x.com/Yamiche/status/1893517922586239358) staff that “No employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command,” and that the department would respond on behalf of the entire department. The Department of [Homeland Security](https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/comments/1iwmtl9/per%5Fdhs%5Fwill%5Frespond%5Fon%5Fbehalf%5Fof%5Fthe%5Fdepartment/) reportedly gave a similar notice to its employees. The [Justice Department](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/doj-tells-all-employees-not-to-respond-to-opm-job-details-email)’s top administrative official, Jolene Ann Lauria, said employees of the department “do not need to respond to the email from OPM,” reversing earlier guidance to reply amid confusion within the department, according to [Bloomberg](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/doj-tells-all-employees-not-to-respond-to-opm-job-details-email). **Read More:** [_White House Says Musk Part of Trump’s ‘Unified Team’ as Agencies Undermine Him_](https://time.com/7261652/trump-musk-press-secretary/) Musk’s email directive has been the subject of bipartisan [criticism and concerns](https://time.com/7260762/elon-musk-federal-employees-email-resignation-threat-criticism/) about potential illegality and overreach. As many as [2.3 million federal workers](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/22/musk-email-federal-workers/)—including [some outside the executive branch](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/02/23/musk-email-government-agencies/), such as Library of Congress employees and judges and judiciary staff—may have received the directive, according to the _Washington Post_. Responses, according to [NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/doge/federal-workers-agencies-push-back-elon-musks-email-ultimatum-rcna193439), are expected to be analyzed using AI. Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson defended Musk’s move, saying Monday: “The public workforce needs to be treated with dignity and respect, and so do the American taxpayers. In the private sector, where most of us come from, it is not unusual for you to have to fill out … routine reports on what you’re accomplishing, what you’re doing. I don’t think it’s a crazy concept.” Musk [responded on X](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1894246876989591939) to video of the comments, reiterating his justification: “Just applying the same standards to public vs private workforce. 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