On February 24, 2025, Treasury counselor John W. York instructed IRS employees to respond by that night to an Office of Personnel Management (OPM) email asking federal workers what they had done the previous week. The deadline was 11:59 p.m. Eastern. That IRS-specific direction was separate from Elon Musk’s public threat to treat nonresponse as resignation: the OPM email did not include his threat, and OPM later told agency human-resources chiefs that replies were voluntary.
What the IRS instruction required
Bloomberg Tax reported on February 24, 2025, that John W. York, a counselor to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, instructed IRS employees to answer OPM’s request by the Monday-night deadline. York described the message as an effort to increase workforce accountability, comparing it with accountability in the private sector. Bloomberg Tax’s report concerned the direction given to IRS employees; it did not establish that all federal agencies had issued the same instruction.
What OPM’s email asked employees to send
OPM sent the government-wide email on Saturday, February 22. Its subject line was “What did you do last week?” It asked employees for approximately five bullet points about their work during the previous week, with their manager copied. The stated deadline was Monday, February 24, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
The email said not to include classified information, links, or attachments. Those restrictions mattered for employees who were away from secure workstations, on leave, or unable to describe their work without approval. House Oversight ranking member Gerald E. Connolly raised those concerns in a February 22 letter to acting OPM director Charles Ezell and urged OPM to clarify that not replying did not constitute resignation. His letter represents his position, not an independent finding about employees’ access or legal status. The email’s wording and deadline were reported by The Washington Post; the letter is available from House Oversight Democrats.
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How Musk’s threat differed from OPM’s request
On February 22, Musk posted that federal employees would soon receive an email asking what they had accomplished the prior week and wrote, “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.” OPM’s later email requested a reply by a deadline but did not repeat that threat. The threat was Musk’s public statement, not language in the OPM message.
OPM spokesperson McLaurine Pinover said the agency was asking employees for a brief summary by Monday evening and that agencies would determine any next steps. On Monday afternoon, OPM told agency human-resources chiefs that responses to its email were voluntary, according to NOTUS’s report. The distinction is important: York directed IRS employees to respond, while OPM’s clarification described the government-wide responses as voluntary.
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Why federal workers received different guidance
Agencies did not give employees a uniform response instruction. Axios reported that the American Federation of Government Employees and the National Treasury Employees Union advised caution or nonresponse; Defense, FBI, State, and Homeland Security were reported to have told employees to pause or not respond. The National Weather Service, by contrast, told staff to coordinate replies with supervisors. OPM said agencies would determine next steps. Axios summarized the differing agency and union positions.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Could an employee be fired or treated as resigned for not replying?
The reports do not establish that nonresponse to this email automatically constituted resignation or that a court resolved the question for this episode. The Washington Post quoted University of Minnesota law professor Nick Bednar saying federal resignations must be voluntary and that there was no legitimate force behind treating silence as resignation. That is attributed legal analysis, not a ruling in this matter. AFGE president Everett Kelley said the union would challenge unlawful terminations; that is the union’s stated position, not a court judgment.
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For IRS employees, the concrete instruction reported at the time was York’s direction to reply by the deadline. For federal employees generally, the OPM request and its later voluntary clarification were distinct from Musk’s post, and agency instructions varied.
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