World

Elon Musk Sued Over ‘What Did You Do Last Week?’ Email To Federal Employees, President Trump Backs Him

by aweeincm

February 25, 2025

Trump Mass Firing News: A coalition of unions and advocacy organisations has filed an updated lawsuit against Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who heads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), following an email sent to federal employees, requiring them to justify their work contributions or risk termination, media reports said. The lawsuit claims that the directive violates federal workforce regulations and contends that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees federal employees, lacks the authority to impose such a requirement, according to a BBC report.  
The email, titled “What did you do last week?”, instructed employees to list five accomplishments while ensuring classified information remained undisclosed. However, multiple agency leaders, including appointees from President Donald Trump’s administration, have advised staff not to comply with the request, the report said.
Musk, however, said on X Sunday any failure to respond to the email “will be taken as a resignation” —  a directive that mirrored his approach to managing his own companies. 
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”>
Consistent with President <a href=”https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@realDonaldTrump</a>’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=”https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1893386883444437415?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 22, 2025</a></blockquote>

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President Donald Trump has expressed support for Musk’s demand requiring federal employees to account for their previous week’s work accomplishments by Monday or face potential termination, news agency Associated Press reported. 
During an Oval Office meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump defended Musk’s approach, stating: “What he’s doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?” He added that employees who fail to respond could be considered “semi-fired or fired”, suggesting that maybe some workers “don’t even exist”.  
Trump also claimed that Musk’s DOGE has uncovered “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud” and implied that taxpayer money is being used to pay nonexistent employees. However, he did not provide evidence to support these allegations.  
“If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person, or they aren’t working,” Trump said.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-media-max-width=”560″>
Great President <a href=”https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href=”https://t.co/k0PMS8eoRC”>pic.twitter.com/k0PMS8eoRC</a>
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href=”https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1894091228054261781?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 24, 2025</a></blockquote>

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<h2>What Does The Updated Lawsuit Say</h2>
The latest controversy erupted over the weekend when President Trump took to his social media platform, declaring: “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE.”  
Musk quickly followed up with his X post cited above, which read: “…all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week”, asserting that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation”.  
Shortly thereafter, the AP report said, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent out its own email, asking employees to submit approximately five bullet points summarising their accomplishments from the previous week and to copy their managers. However, the message made no mention of job termination for those who did not comply. 
The deadline for submission was set for 11:59 pm EST on Monday (10.29 am IST).  
The move faced immediate resistance from several key US agencies — including the FBI, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Pentagon — many of which are led by Trump loyalists, according to multiple reports. Over the weekend, these agencies advised their employees not to respond to the request. Meanwhile, lawmakers from both major political parties raised concerns about the legality of Musk’s mandate.  
On Monday, a coalition of unions, businesses, veterans, and conservation groups filed an updated lawsuit in a California federal court, arguing that Musk’s directive violated federal employment laws. The legal challenge, led by the State Democracy Defenders Fund, described the potential mass firings as “one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country”.  
The new lawsuit in California is attached to one filed last week that sought to block the mass firing of federal workers.
The revised version says “no OPM rule, regulation, policy, or program has ever, in United States history, purported to require all federal workers to submit reports to OPM”, according to the BBC report.
The White House has dismissed the lawsuit, with Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly criticising the legal action. “In the time it took these employees on taxpayer-funded salaries to file a frivolous lawsuit, they could have briefly recapped their accomplishments to their managers, as is common in the private sector, 100 times over,” she said in a statement.  
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<h2>Lawsuits Against Elon Musk’s DOGE  </h2>
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is facing at least 11 lawsuits alleging illegal access to Americans’ personal data. While DOGE has pushed aggressive federal spending cuts, critics argue its secretive approach to sensitive information has become a major concern.  
Musk, the wealthiest man in the world and President Trump’s top campaign donor, has positioned DOGE as a tech-driven effort to reduce the deficit. However, lawsuits claim that DOGE operatives — mainly young tech professionals — have demanded access to federal databases typically restricted to regulated personnel, according to an NBC report.  
The legal challenges accuse DOGE of violating the Privacy Act of 1974, which limits federal agencies’ data collection and access.
DOGE faced its <a href=”https://news.abplive.com/news/world/elon-musk-doge-gets-sued-lawsuit-immediately-after-donald-trump-assumes-us-president-s-office-1745605″>first lawsuit</a>, filed in Washington district court, just minutes after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the US. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which represents nearly 8 lakh federal employees, went to the court challenging the very creation of the DOGE.
The lawsuit argued that DOGE violates federal regulations that govern advisory bodies. According to the AFGE, Musk’s DOGE lacks diversity in viewpoints, and operates without transparency, posing a threat to essential public services.