United States of America federal workers have expressed deep-seated frustrations following conflicting advice over compliance with Elon Musk’s-backed order to list their last week’s work in an email or face termination.
DAILY POST recalls that following instruction by US President Donald Trump’s charge to Musk to act faster in its reforms across federal agencies, Musk had sent out an email to workers requesting their last week’s work.
Musk had hinted that non-response to the email by the federal workers means resignation.
However, 48 hours after Musk’s email, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) clarified that responses were voluntary, leaving agencies to decide their approach.
In the last days, Musk’s email had stirred controversies in the US, with federal worker unions and activist groups filing a lawsuit in California to halt the email mandate.
Key agencies, including the Departments of Defence, Health and Human Services (HHS), Justice, and the FBI—now led by Trump appointees—instructed employees to ignore the directive. This led to widespread uncertainty, with some workers receiving contradictory messages over the weekend.
Reacting to the development, an employee who works under HHS told the BBC anonymously that, “They’re succeeding in driving us insane.”
In an update statement on his X account, Musk maintained he was acting on instructions from President Donald Trump.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” he wrote, apparently referring to workers who did not respond to his demand by the end of Monday. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
Speaking on the development, White House press secretary Karine Leavitt insisted amid pushback that, “Everyone is working together as one unified team at the direction of President Trump.
“Any notion to the contrary is completely false.”