In a new update to a lawsuit from federal workers, attorneys state that Trump administration adviser Elon Musk has violated the law.
They allege this specific violation occurred over the weekend, when an email demanded that all employees respond with an explanation of their accomplishments over the past week.
Those who didn’t respond listing five things that they had done by the end of the day on Monday would be fired, the email claimed.
Musk Lawsuit Cries Foul
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of unions, businesses veterans, and conservation organizations represented by the group State Democracy Defenders Fund, the AP says.
The gist of the updated complaint is that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has never required all workers to submit reports. According to the suit itself: “No OPM rule, regulation, policy, or program has ever, in United States history, purported to require all federal workers to submit reports to OPM.”
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The lawsuit, which aims to block the mass federal layoffs, also calls the threat to fire workers “one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country.”
The Email: “Failure to Respond Will be Taken as a Resignation.”
Federal workers first began receiving the email in question on Saturday afternoon. It was sent from the Office of Personnel Management’s new HR email address, although no signature was attached.
The subject line read: “What did you do last week?”
“Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.” –the email
Musk posted on the social media platform X on the same day, announcing that the email would be going out.
Trump appointed Musk to head the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency last November. The Trump administration has since terminated thousands of employees.
How Are Agencies Responding?
According to a CNN report, the Pentagon, FBI, State Department, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Energy were among those who have asked their staffers not to comply with the email demand. Granted, other departments are taking the opposite approach, suggesting their workers comply with the request, while still others are telling their staff to wait for further guidance.
It’s the first sign of a “Trump appointees appear[ing] to contradict Musk,” according to the CNN’s assessment.
However, President Trump himself has since spoken in favor of the mass firing threat, saying during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that “What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?’ 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.”
Trump’s stance isn’t a surprise. Prior to Musk’s posts about the email and the email itself going out on Saturday, Trump posted to social media that “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE.”
