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Social Security Administration workers have reportedly been told that responses to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) email demanding that they justify their jobs are “voluntary,” despite Elon Musk‘s threat that non-responses would be considered a resignation.
Newsweek reached out to the SSA via email and over the phone on Monday for comment.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump has delegated Musk, the world’s richest man, to reduce the size of the “bloated” federal government by leading the Department of Government Efficiency.
Critics have accused Musk and DOGE of abusing power through actions that include the mass firings of federal workers and attempting to access sensitive personal data from the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
What To Know
In a Saturday post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk informed “all federal employees” that they would soon “receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week” while warning that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Hours later, federal workers received an OPM email demanding that they respond by listing “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week” by 11:59 Eastern Time on Monday night.
On Monday afternoon, the SSA reportedly told its workers in an email that responses to the OPM correspondence were voluntary and that not responding would not result in a loss of employment.
“The Social Security Administration has told their employees that responses to Musk/OPM email are voluntary and that a non response is not considered a resignation,” Washington Examiner reporter Samantha-Jo Roth wrote on X.
“STUNNING: After turning the entire SSA upside over this Elon Threat Email, an email was just sent out within the hour basically saying ‘nevermind,'” Talking Points Memo founder and Editor-in-Chief Josh Marshall said on X.
Marshall shared the following quote from the purported email: “Pursuant to updated OPM guidance, responses to the email from sender “HR” dated Saturday, February 22, are voluntary.”
Some federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and the Federal Bureau of Investigations, have instructed workers to ignore the OPM email or disregard Musk’s threat.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump praised the OPM email and Elon Musk at a Monday press conference: “I think everyone thought it was a pretty ingenious idea. We have to find out where these people are. Who are they? And we said, ‘If you don’t respond, we assume you’re not around, and you’re not getting paid anymore, too.'”
I think it was, actually; there was a lot of genius in sending it. We’re trying to find out if people are working, and so we’re sending a letter to people, ‘Please tell us what you did last week.’ If people don’t respond, it’s very possible that there is no such person or they’re not working.”
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Sunday on X: “If Elon Musk truly wants to understand what federal workers accomplished over the past week, he should get to know each department and agency, and learn about the jobs he’s trying to cut.
“Our public servants work hard to ensure that our national security is protected; that planes land safely; that forest fires do not spread to our homes; that Social Security checks arrive on time; that research for the breakthroughs needed to cure diseases like cancer and ALS continues; and much more.
“Our public workforce deserves to be treated with dignity and respect for the unheralded jobs they perform. The absurd weekend email to justify their existence wasn’t it.”
What Happens Next
While it is unclear whether any action will be taken against federal workers who ignore the email once the deadline passes Monday night, government employees have already taken legal action in response to Musk’s threat.
“No OPM rule, regulation, policy, or program has ever, in United States history, purported to require all federal workers to submit reports to OPM,” reads a lawsuit filed on behalf of federal employees, unions and conservation groups.
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