Deadline for Musk’s ultimatum to federal workers hits, but consequences remain vague

The deadline for federal workers to respond to Elon Musk’s request to verify their weekly work output passed on Monday night, but the consequences of declining to respond remain vague.

Musk confirmed shortly before Monday’s deadline that federal workers would be given another chance to respond, and that failure to do so “will result in termination.”

Several government agencies, including those led by loyalists to President Donald Trump, told their employees not to respond to the original request from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). While Musk himself suggested on social media that refusing to respond to the email would be “taken as a resignation,” the actual email from OPM made no mention of such consequences.

“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager,” the OPM request read, making no threats of termination.

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The FBI and Department of Defense, led by Trump allies Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth, also instructed their employees not to respond, citing the confidential nature of their work.

“When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses,” Patel wrote to FBI employees.

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Trump argued there was no rift in his administration despite the conflicting orders, however.

“They don’t mean that in any way combatively with Elon,” he told reporters late last week. “Everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea.”

“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said in the Oval Office on Monday. “And then, if you don’t answer, like, you’re sort of semi-fired or you’re fired, because a lot of people aren’t answering because they don’t even exist.”

Musk nevertheless appeared angry at the lack of response to the request, turning to X to express his frustration just hours before the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline.

“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” he wrote. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers. Have you ever witnessed such INCOMPETENCE and CONTEMPT for how YOUR TAXES are being spent? Makes old Twitter look good. Didn’t think that was possible.”

Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is in the midst of auditing various federal agencies in search of wasteful spending, corruption and mismanagement. 

DOGE’s work comes as President Donald Trump ordered the federal workforce to return to the office after five years of remote work stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, and has vowed to clean house of bad actors within the government and ax overspending.