The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) informed agency leaders that employee response to an email asking for a recap of what they accomplished this week is voluntary and that failure to do so will not be considered a resignation.
The guidance given to the human resources officers at every agency undercuts a Saturday push from Elon Musk demanding that all federal employees send five bullet notes of what they accomplished in the week prior by midnight Monday or face removal.
“This afternoon, OPM during a Chief Human Capital Officers Council meeting, informed agencies that employee responses to the OPM email is voluntarily,” according to an email obtained by The Hill.
“OPM also clarified that a non-response to the email does not equate to a resignation.”
The guidance from OPM to human resources leaders comes amid a turf war between agency leaders and Musk.
Several departments have instructed employees not to respond to the email.
In a message to staff Saturday, FBI Director Kash Patel said that “when and if further information is required, we will coordinate the responses. For now, please pause any responses.”
“The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of our review processes and will conduct reviews,” he added.
DHS leadership sent an email to its more than 250,000 employees likewise directing them not to respond to the email.
“DHS management will respond on behalf of the Department and all its component offices,” the email stated.
“No reporting action from you is needed at this time. For now, please pause any responses outside your DHS chain of command.”
Trump, however, defended Musk’s mandate to employees on Monday.
“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,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
