U.S. Federal Employees File Lawsuit Over Elon Musk’s Ultimatum on Job Performance
Federal Workers Sue Elon Musk Over Job Ultimatum and Threat of Mass Firings
Attorneys representing federal employees filed a lawsuit on Monday, alleging that billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk violated the law with his recent demand that government workers justify their accomplishments or risk termination.
The updated lawsuit, submitted in a federal court in California and shared with The Associated Press, seeks to halt mass layoffs spearheaded by Musk and President Donald Trump. These layoffs include those potentially tied to an email sent by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Saturday, which required federal employees to submit a list of five completed tasks by the end of Monday.
Lawsuit Challenges Unprecedented Policy
The amended complaint, filed on behalf of unions, business groups, veterans, and conservation organizations through the State Democracy Defenders Fund, argues that no previous OPM regulation has ever mandated such a requirement for federal workers. The lawsuit describes the ultimatum as “one of the most massive employment frauds in U.S. history.”
Musk’s Continued Threats
Despite mounting legal challenges and administrative confusion, Musk continued to threaten federal employees Monday morning.
“Those who do not take this email seriously will soon be furthering their career elsewhere,” Musk posted on X, his social media platform.
Additionally, Musk escalated Trump’s mandate to end remote work, declaring that “starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave.”
Resistance From Key Agencies
The controversial directive sparked immediate resistance from multiple federal agencies, including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security, and the Pentagon, which instructed employees not to comply. Lawmakers from both parties also questioned the legality of the directive, and unions have threatened further lawsuits.
While some agencies pushed back, the Department of Health and Human Services, led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., initially instructed its 80,000 employees to comply. However, conflicting messages from agency leadership created confusion, with new guidance issued by Sunday evening instructing employees to “pause activities” related to the request until further notice.
Sean Keveney, acting general counsel for the department, voiced his concerns in an internal email, stating, “Having put in over 70 hours of work last week advancing Administration priorities, I was personally insulted to receive the below email.” He also cited security concerns and potential attorney-client privilege issues with the mandate.
Lawmakers and FBI Director Weigh In
The backlash extended to Capitol Hill, where both Democrats and some Republicans, including Sen. John Curtis of Utah, criticized Musk’s approach.
“If I could say one thing to Elon Musk, it’s ‘Please put a dose of compassion in this,’” Curtis said on CBS’s Face the Nation. “These are real people. These are real lives. These are mortgages. It’s a false narrative to say we have to cut and you have to be cruel to do it as well.”
Newly confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump ally, instructed employees to disregard Musk’s request for now. “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures,” Patel stated in an email confirmed by the AP.
Confusion Within Agencies
Federal departments issued conflicting messages over the weekend. While some officials reinforced the directive, others advised against compliance.
For instance, acting Undersecretary of State for Management Tibor Nagy informed State Department employees that leadership would respond on their behalf. At the Pentagon, Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Jules Hurst advised staff to “pause” any response to Musk’s team. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Deputy Undersecretary for Management R.D. Alles reassured employees that “no reporting action from you is needed at this time.”
Layoffs and Allegations of Fraud
The federal workforce has already seen significant reductions, with thousands of employees either fired or forced to accept “deferred resignation” offers within the first month of Trump’s second term. While official figures remain unavailable, AP has tracked the impact on hundreds of thousands of government employees, many of whom work outside Washington, D.C.
Defending his mandate, Musk called the reporting requirement a “very basic pulse check,” claiming that many federal employees were not actively working. “In some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks. In other words, there is outright fraud,” he posted on X. However, he has provided no evidence to support these claims.
Musk and Trump have also made unsubstantiated assertions that millions of deceased individuals over the age of 100 are receiving Social Security payments.
Meanwhile, thousands of additional employees, including probationary civilian workers at the Pentagon and most staff at the U.S. Agency for International Development, are expected to exit the federal workforce in the coming week due to further cuts and administrative leave policies.
