Federal staffers in Wyoming receive new job-threatening ultimatum

FROM WYOFILE:

D.C. decree, which might not carry legal weight, is aimed ‘to psychologically break us,’ one worker says.

Elon Musk on Saturday threatened federal workers in Wyoming and nationwide with losing their jobs in a social post that one U.S. Forest Service employee said was an effort “to psychologically break us.”

An email reviewed by WyoFile labeled “HR” from an  Office of Personnel Management “.gov” address and sent Saturday, instructed federal workers to list in bullet-point format five things they accomplished last week.

The deadline for responding is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Monday.

Musk followed up with a post on X that said “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

Workers in the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management and National Park Service in Wyoming and across the country received the emails, according to the employee and widespread news reports.

“Nobody knows what this means,” the employee said. “People are waiting to hear from leadership on what we should do.”

WyoFile found the employee’s fear of retribution credible and agreed not to publish their name. “It feels like saying anything is a reason to be fired,” the person said.

Meantime, Wyoming’s U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman on Saturday endorsed Musk’s federal employee purge directed by President Trump. She is “ecstatic” that Trump is eradicating waste, fraud and abuse, she said in an address to Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. Democrats and environmentalists “know nothing about the environment, climate, resource management,” she said.

Musk’s latest demand is causing “unnecessary chaos,” said Phil Francis, chairman of the Executive Council of the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks. The email displays “a fundamental lack of understanding of how the federal government works, and a vast ignorance of personnel practices.”

The email is “so ridiculous it’s hard to formulate a response,” Francis wrote in a statement. It’s uncertain what legal weight the email carries. One law professor told the Washington Post such forced resignations are illegal.

WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

This story was posted on February 23, 2025.