Elon Musk is warning federal workers who haven't returned to in-person work in compliance with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and the Trump administration's executive order will face consequences.
Musk on Monday wrote a post on X that said federal workers who aren't back in the office this week will be put on leave.
"Those who ignored President Trump's executive order to return to work have now received over a month's warning," Musk wrote in response to a clip of Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., on Fox News. "Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave."
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Inauguration Day that instructed the heads of all federal departments and agencies to "as soon as practical, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary."
Elon Musk warned federal workers to return to the office or be put on administrative leave as he seeks to implement Trump's RTO executive order. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Musk and DOGE over the weekend sent emails to workers across the federal government instructing them to reply with a five-bullet-point list of accomplishments to show what they did at work last week with a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Monday.
"Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump's instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week," Musk wrote. "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation."
He wrote in a follow-up post on Saturday that "the bar is very low" and added an "email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable! Should take less than 5 mins to write."
Elon Musk's DOGE said failure to respond to the email would be interpreted as a resignation. (Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)
The email spurred confusion among the federal workforce and several agencies instructed their workers not to reply to the DOGE team's email that was sent through the Office of Personnel Management.
In a letter to Department of Defense (DoD) personnel, Darin S. Selnick, who is performing the duties of the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, provided guidance on how to handle Musk's demand.
"DoD personnel may have received an email from OPM requesting information. 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," Selnick wrote. "When and if required, the Department will coordinate responses to the email you have received from OPM. For now, please pause any response to the OPM email titled, ‘What did you do last week.’"
The FBI instructed employees to pause any response to the DOGE email. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)
FBI Director Kash Patel told the agency's workers not to respond in a note first reported by ABC News, saying the FBI's Office of the Director "is in charge of all review processes, and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures. When and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses."
Workers at the State Department were told in a follow-up email that "no employee is obligated to report their activities outside their Department chain of command."
The American Federation of Government Employees labor union said it plans to "challenge any unlawful terminations of our members and federal employees across the country."
Fox News' Greg Wehner, Jennifer Griffin and Landon Mion contributed to this report.