Despite filed lawsuit: Elon Musk renews his termination threat

Elon Musk wants to know what all of the more than two million federal employees do at work. Several agencies say their employees should not answer. Lawyers file a lawsuit. But the entrepreneur doesn't care: He is once again threatening large-scale layoffs.

Following complaints against Elon Musk's actions, the tech billionaire reiterated his threats of dismissal on Monday. Musk's team at the cost-cutting agency Doge sent an email to around two million federal employees on Saturday demanding that they list five achievements they made at their workplace in the past week within 48 hours. Musk also announced on X that any employee who did not respond by the deadline on Monday evening would lose their job.

Musk repeated this threat again in another post on X: "It is at the discretion of the President to give them another chance. If they do not respond a second time, they will be fired."

Musk based his statement on US President Donald Trump, who had defended his actions shortly before. "What he's doing is asking, 'Are you actually working?'" Trump said on Monday. Musk simply wanted to check whether the federal employees were actually employed.

Musk's request for proof of employment sparked outrage, including among government agencies run by the president's acolytes - including the FBI, the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the Pentagon - which instructed their employees not to respond to the emails.

Lawyers for federal employees eventually filed a lawsuit against Musk's actions : There is no law or regulation requiring federal employees to report their work to human resources management, said the lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in a federal court in California and was seen by the AP news agency.