4 months ago
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(NewsNation) — Uncertainty remained Tuesday for hundreds of thousands of national employees pursuing a directive from Elon Musk to explicate their caller accomplishments oregon hazard losing their jobs.
Federal workers rattled by Musk's ultimatum
Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency, sent an email to hundreds of thousands of national employees Saturday, giving them astir 48 hours to study 5 circumstantial things they had accomplished past week. In a abstracted connection posted connected societal media, Musk said immoderate worker who failed to respond by the deadline — acceptable successful the email arsenic 11:59 p.m. EST Monday — would suffer their job.
The Office of Personnel Management issued a memo Monday to national departments and agencies, clarifying that it was not mandatory for workers to respond to the email.
The bureau aboriginal clarified idiosyncratic agencies indispensable determine if they necessitate responses and to find the consequences of those who neglect to bash so. It added that agencies should see whether the "accomplishment bullets" should beryllium integrated into the agency's play enactment report.
Hours later, Musk again threatened national workers successful a station connected X, his societal platform.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they volition beryllium fixed different chance. Failure to respond a 2nd clip volition effect successful termination," he wrote.
President Donald Trump signaled his enactment of Musk aboriginal Monday, 2 days aft the email was sent.
Federal workers blast Musk-caused 'chaos'
Musk’s antithetic request has faced absorption from respective cardinal U.S. agencies led by the president’s loyalists — including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security and the Pentagon — which instructed their employees implicit the play not to comply. Lawmakers successful some parties said that Musk’s mandate whitethorn beryllium illegal, portion unions are threatening to sue.
Amid national fund cuts, NewsNation has received messages from workers affected by the layoffs, with immoderate departments letting longtime workers go.
One national idiosyncratic from the Department of Health and Human Services shared an email with NewsNation they received at 5 p.m. ET Monday night. "No HHS anticipation that HHS employees respond to OPM and determination is nary interaction to your employment with the bureau if you take not to respond," the email read.
However, if employees did respond, they were advised to tailor their answers arsenic if “malign overseas actors” mightiness work them.
A Veterans Affairs idiosyncratic told NewsNation that immoderate nurses came successful connected their time disconnected Monday, bringing their children, to capable retired the required slug points. These workers were incapable to entree email from location owed to firewall restrictions, creating anxiousness astir imaginable consequences.
One VA idiosyncratic expressed interest astir however these changes could interaction veterans’ services. "Making businesslike is 1 thing, shrinking and crippling is another," the worker said. "Ultimately, they are taking distant extortion and enactment for Americans. That is what I americium astir acrophobic about."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
