Elon Musk’s efforts to slash the federal workforce have hit a new roadblock as federal agencies push back against his demand that employees justify their performance to keep their jobs.
The demand by Musk that federal workers list five things they did last week fell flat after multiple agencies instructed workers that responding to the request was voluntary, according to internal emails reviewed by Newsweek.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that more than a million federal workers have responded so far to the email. Approximately 2.3 million people work for the federal government.
“This is to ensure that federal workers are not ripping off American taxpayers, that they are showing up to the office, and that they are doing their job,” Leavitt said.
Leavitt said the email was Musk’s idea and that President Donald Trump was giving agency heads leeway to implement the directive. “The president defers to his cabinet secretaries, who he’s obviously entrusted, to pursue the guidance relative to their specific workforce,” she said.
Musk, meanwhile, said in a social media post that federal workers had until midnight on Monday to respond to an email sent by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Saturday with the subject line “What did you do last week?” But employees at agencies across the federal government ignored the deadline after being told by supervisors that compliance was voluntary.
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The Department of Health and Human Services told workers in an email Monday that there “is no HHS expectation that HHS employees respond to OPM.”
“There is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond,” the HHS email added.
The Department of Commerce instructed employees Monday to provide five bullet points about their recent job activities to immediate supervisors. “You do not need to copy other recipients at this time,” the email added, a directive to not include the federal personnel management office.
The State Department and other federal agencies sent staffers similar instructions ahead of the Monday deadline. The pushback amounted to a new obstacle to Musk, a close ally of the president, in his efforts to radically remake the federal bureaucracy under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Several unions representing federal workers also instructed their members not to comply.
Musk’s email is “plainly unlawful,” Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing 800,000 workers, wrote in a letter to OPM.
“The email fails to identify any legal authority permitting OPM to demand the requested information,” Kelley said.
Musk responded to the pushback by doubling down on his demand Monday evening in a post on X, the platform he owns. Musk said workers who don’t meet his first deadline would get “another chance.”
“Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” Musk wrote.
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OPM also sent out a new communication Monday reminding agencies of the deadline. But in the memo the office instructed agencies to “exclude personnel from this expectation at their discretion,” making it unclear who exactly was required to comply.
Trump also weighed in Monday and backed Musk’s demand that workers detail their duties.
“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working'” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “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.”
In response to a request for comment, a White House spokesperson referred Newsweek to Leavitt’s remarks on the topic at Tuesday’s press briefing.
The confusion over Musk’s demand comes as DOGE continues facing challenges in slashing government jobs and funding.
On Tuesday more than 20 DOGE employees resigned, citing their refusal to “dismantle critical public services” the agency has targeted since Trump took office.
Update 2/25/25 2:45 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comments Leavitt made at Tuesday’s press briefing.
