The Latest: Musk renews threat to fire federal workers despite pushback from various agencies

Elon Musk is vowing yet again to fire any federal workers who don’t respond to an email asking them to list five things they accomplished last week.

Hours after the U.S. Office of Personnel Management had directed agencies that responses to its email were optional, Musk again threatened federal workers in a post on X, his social media platform.

Here's the latest:

FDA moves to rehire medical device, food safety and other staffers fired days earlier

Barely a week after mass firings at the Food and Drug Administration, some probationary staffers received unexpected news over the weekend: The government wants them back.

The reversal is the latest example of Trump and Musk’s chaotic approach to cost-cutting, which has resulted in several agencies firing, and then scrambling to rehire, employees responsible for nuclear weapons, national parks and other government services.

The FDA reinstatements followed pushback by lobbyists for the medical device industry, which pays the agency hundreds of millions of dollars annually to hire extra scientists to review products. The industry’s leading trade group said Monday “a sizable number” of device reviewers appear to be returning to FDA.

▶ Read more about the rehiring of employees at the FDA

Federal workers return to offices

Federal employees across the country, many of whom have worked from home since the COVID-19 pandemic, were back at agency offices Monday under President Donald Trump’s return-to-office mandate.

Musk, meanwhile, who is scouring government agencies for suspected waste, delivered a warning Monday to workers on his platform X.

“Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave,” Musk wrote.

However, it appears at least some federal agencies are not prepared for all remote workers to return to the office.

In an email to U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid employees on Friday obtained by The Associated Press, agency officials noted that some regional offices in Boston, Chicago, New York and San Francisco were not ready for workers to return. The message also noted that employees who live more than 50 miles from regional offices in some major cities would not be required to return to the office Monday.

The email also noted that while some workers would begin reporting to offices Monday, others would begin relocating back to offices in phases through April and beyond.

▶ Read more about the federal worker retrn to office mandate

Trump backs Musk as he roils the federal workforce with demands and threats

Trump is backing Elon Musk’s demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, even as government agency officials were told that compliance with Musk’s edict was voluntary.

The Republican president said Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has found “hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud” as he suggested that federal paychecks are going to nonexistent employees. He did not present evidence for his claims.

Even as Trump and Musk pressed their case, the Office of Personnel Management informed agency leaders that their workers were not required to respond by the deadline of 11:59 p.m. EST Monday, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters.

The conflicting directives led to varying advice for federal employees, depending on where they work. Some were told to answer the request for a list of five things that they did last week, others were informed it was optional, and others were directed not to answer at all.

▶ Read more about Musk’s demand for federal employees