The US agency that oversees federal workers said on Monday they could ignore a weekend email from tech billionaire Elon Musk that required them to justify their jobs after Musk's demand sparked unusual pushback from some agencies.
Musk's email had directed each of the nation's 2.3 million civil-service workers to provide a five-point summary of their work by 11:59pm EST (0459 GMT), raising questions about how much authority the world's richest person can wield in President Donald Trump's effort to downsize the US government.
Musk had warned that workers who did not respond in detail could lose their jobs. But as the deadline approached, Musk seemed to acknowledge that his plan had run aground.
"The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!" Musk posted on X, the social media site he owns. "Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers."
According to an internal Justice Department email seen by Reuters, the US Office of Personnel Management told human resources officials at federal agencies on Monday that employees would not be let go for not replying to Musk's email - nor were staff required to respond to it.
The memo said responding to the email was voluntary. It also urged employees not to share confidential, sensitive or classified information in their responses, a concern of critics of Musk's action.
Even after that guidance was issued, some agencies nudged their employees to respond.
A senior manager at the General Services Administration, which manages federal buildings, told employees that the agency was still encouraging workers to answer the email even if it was voluntary, according to a GSA source.
Similarly, the acting director of OPM itself sent an email to the agency's staff that said responding with bullet points was voluntary "but strongly encouraged."
The White House and OPM did not respond to requests for comment.
RESISTANCE TO MUSK'S ORDER
The countermanding of Musk's order by some agency leaders was the first sign of internal resistance to his blunt-force approach to downsizing the federal government.
The Department of Health and Human Services advised employees that if they chose to reply, they should keep their responses general in nature and that they should refrain from identifying specific drugs or contracts they are working on, according to an email reviewed by Reuters.
"Assume that what you write will be read by malign foreign actors and tailor your response accordingly," the email said.
Musk's downsizing initiative rippled into the wider US economy as well, forcing companies that do business with the government to lay off their own workers and defer payments to vendors.
The billionaire's Saturday message took some administration officials by surprise, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
Adding to the confusion, Trump stood by Musk. "I thought it was great," he told reporters at the White House earlier on Monday. "There was a lot of genius in sending it. We're trying to find out if people were working."
In other Monday action, a federal judge blocked the government downsizing team created by Trump and led by Musk from accessing sensitive data maintained by the US Education Department and the OPM.
UNIONS SUE OVER MUSK EMAIL
Also on Monday, a group of labor unions that have asked a federal judge to stop the mass firings updated their lawsuit to request that Musk's email be ruled illegal.
Prior to the OPM directive, senior officials at Justice, as well as the departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security and several other agencies had told workers not to respond outside their established chain of command.
The Transportation Department, the Treasury Department and independent agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission have told employees to answer Musk's message.
Musk has reveled in the upheaval, even wielding a chainsaw at a conservative political conference last week.
His email was also sent to political appointees at the White House who presumably would not be viewed with suspicion by the president, according to two sources.
It also was sent to federal judges and other employees of the court system, who make up a separate branch of government and do not answer to the administration.
More than 20,000 workers have been laid off as part of the downsizing effort.
DOWNSIZING, REHIRING
The confusion echoed the broader turmoil surrounding Trump's return to power.
Since taking office on 20 January, Trump has frozen billions of dollars in foreign assistance and effectively dismantled the US Agency for International Development, stranding medicine and food in warehouses.
He has ordered employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to cease working, though they also received Musk's email asking to outline their work activities over the past week. The Trump administration has separately offered buyouts to 75,000 workers.
In some cases, the government has scrambled to rehire workers who perform critical functions like nuclear weapons oversight and bird flu response. The downsizing also prompted a wave of lawsuits.
