Federal workers opted for a “frivolous” update to a lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management rather than explain themselves to Elon Musk.
As the head of the Department of Government Efficiency methodically marched through the agencies of the executive branch, federal bureaucrats appeared gobsmacked as their public sector bubbles were burst by private sector norms.
Naturally, after the DOGE mission included an OPM email expecting a short list of tasks completed, the unions representing many in the workforce amended a recent legal challenge to expand upon their grievances.
“Prior to February 22, 2025, no notice was published, in the Federal Register or anywhere else, regarding any OPM program, rule, policy, or regulation requiring all federal employees to provide a report regarding their work to OPM,” noted the lawsuit.
The argument against potential terminations raised issues of procedural requirements that were allegedly violated in attempting to oust employees who weren’t fulfilling their duties or, as the Associated Press described it, “Federal workers are suing Elon Musk over his threat to fire them if they don’t explain five things they did last week by end of day Monday.”
Federal workers are suing Elon Musk over his threat to fire them if they don’t explain five things they did last week by end of day Monday. pic.twitter.com/cYEZSC3OeO
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 24, 2025
Introduced by the American Federation of Government Employees, Common Defense Civic Engagement, Vote Vets Action Fund Inc., AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and others, the suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco was initially opposed to President Donald Trump aiming to fire federal employees still in probationary periods.
Assigned to U.S. District Judge William Alsup, appointed by then-President Bill Clinton, the challenge to OPM and acting Director Charles Ezell sought injunctive relief to make the order unlawful and rescind any terminations of probationary employees.
Reacting to the suit, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in part, “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.”
While department heads from the Departments of State, Defense, and Homeland Security along with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and FBI were among those instructing employees to refrain from responding to the email, Trump sided with the move as part of his encouragement that Musk “GET MORE AGGRESSIVE.”
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” the DOGE head posted to X Monday evening after The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh expressed, “Fire any federal worker who didn’t answer the email. Fire any who complained publicly about the email. Fire any who complained privately about the email. Fire any who did anything but cheerfully and promptly answer it.”
Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance.
Failure to respond a second time will result in termination. https://t.co/04xzgScXfj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2025
The litigious response marked nearly 100 lawsuits challenging the Trump administration since the president returned to the White House on Jan. 20.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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