Musk’s Demand That Federal Workers Justify Their Jobs Is ‘Plainly Unlawful,’ Union Says

The Trump administration’s email to federal employees demanding that they explain what they did at work last week is “plainly unlawful” and should be retracted, a federal union said Sunday.

In a letter to the Office of Personnel Management, Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said the email “fails to cite any legal authority” for its demand, and violates laws delegating management authority to federal agency leaders.

“We believe that employees have no obligation to respond to this plainly unlawful email absent other lawful direction,” wrote Kelley, whose union represents 800,000 workers. “I am also requesting that OPM rescind the email and apologize to all federal employees.”

He went on to say the email left workers feeling “undervalued and intimidated.”

The email ― and a post on X promoting it from Elon Musk, head of President Donald Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency ― sparked outrage across the federal workforce over the weekend. It ordered recipients to “reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.”

The email had a subject line that read, “What did you do last week?” and provided a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Monday.

“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” Musk threatened.

The demand is just the latest insult Musk and the White House have hurled at federal workers as they try to push them out of their jobs. In addition to trying to unilaterally shut down federal agencies, the Trump administration has pressured employees to accept a legally shaky deferred resignation program, and fired thousands of probationary hires with dubious justification.

In his letter Sunday, Kelley noted that the “what did you do last week?” note was not only rude, it was also a wasteful distraction. By way of example, he said an air traffic controller at the Federation Aviation Administration and a surgeon at the Veterans Affairs Department shouldn’t have to spend time justifying their work to people who don’t even manage them.

“OPM is actively pulling federal employees away from their critical duties without regard for the consequences,” he said. The confusion, he added, was “not just inappropriate – it is disruptive to essential government functions.”

He also said it was reckless to allow the “unelected and unhinged” Musk dictate OPM policy.

Over the weekend, federal workers across the country were awaiting guidance from their agency leaders on how to respond, if at all. The Defense Department was among those advising employees to “pause any response” to the email, and asserting management authority over its own employees.

“The Department of Defense is responsible for reviewing the performance of its personnel and it will conduct any review in accordance with its own procedures,” the agency said on X.