President Donald Trump voiced support for Elon Musk's demand that federal employees explain their recent accomplishments by the end of Monday or risk getting fired, an edict that has spawned new litigation and added to turmoil within the government workforce. (Pics/AFP)
Updated on : 25 February,2025 01:01 PM IST | Compiled by : ronak mastakar
"What he's doing is saying, Are you actually working?'" Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. "And then, if you don't answer, like, you're sort of semi-fired or you're fired, because a lot of people aren't answering because they don't even exist"
The Republican president said that 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
Attorneys representing unions, businesses, veterans and conservation organizations filed an updated lawsuit in federal court in California on Monday, arguing Musk had violated the law with his demand. The Office of Personnel Management, which functions as a human resources agency for the federal government, told employees to detail five things they did last week by the end of Monday
The lawsuit, spearheaded by the State Democracy Defenders Fund, called the threat of mass firings "one of the most massive employment frauds in the history of this country"
Anna Kelly, a White House deputy press secretary, criticized the litigation by saying "in the time it took these employees on taxpayer-funded salaries to file a frivolous lawsuit, they could have briefly recapped their accomplishments to their managers, as is common in the private sector, 100 times over"
Musk is leading Trump's efforts to overhaul and downsize the federal government. They've urged employees to resign, directed agencies to lay off probationary workers and halted work at some agencies altogether
There has been pushback in protests around Washington and from within the government. The Office of Special Counsel, a watchdog for the federal workforce, said Monday that the firing of several probationary workers may be illegal. Trump is trying to fire the office's leader, Hampton Dellinger, in a case that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court
Dellinger asked the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board to stop layoffs of six employees, but suggested that many more workers should also be protected from losing their jobs
There are also signs Musk is testing the limits of his influence. Some administration officials, including some of Trump's most strident allies, including FBI Director Kash Patel, have told employees not to respond to the email requesting five things they did, citing privacy or security concerns and noting that agencies have their own processes for evaluating employees
