US tells federal agencies they can ignore Musk’s job justification ultimatum

The US Office of Personnel Management told HR officials that employees would not be let go for not replying to an email asking what they did last week, nor did staff have to respond to the email, according to a Justice Department internal communication.

Billionaire and Republican President Donald Trump’s ally Elon Musk had ordered for US government workers to justify their jobs.

Musk’s order opened divisions in the Trump administration. Some agencies had told workers to respond to Musk by a Monday night deadline and others told workers to ignore him.

“What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’” Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. “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’s directive to the nation’s 2.3 million civil-service workers to provide a five-point summary of their work by 11.59pm Eastern time raised questions about how much authority the world’s richest person can wield in Trump’s government as he leads an effort to slash the federal payroll.

The Office of Personnel Management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.