Musk has been making mass layoffs in a bid to cut federal spendings
Many government workers have been told to return to their jobs after being let go by Elon Musk’s DOGE just two weeks ago.
Two weeks back, the Trump administration had cut jobs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, just a few days later, 180 of those former employees were surprised to get an email asking them to come back to work.
Elon Musk has been making mass layoffs through DOGE (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
The email’s subject line said: “Read this email right away.”
Inside the message, it stated: “You need to go back to your old work schedule. We’re sorry for any trouble this may have caused.”
This information comes from a report by the Associated Press.
Some of the people who lost their jobs were new hires still in their trial period.
It’s unclear how many workers will be going back to their jobs after their layoffs were canceled.
Recently, government employees have been worried about job security since Musk announced he would be making big cuts to reduce federal spending.
In a controversial email sent to all federal workers, Musk asked them to list five things they had achieved that week.
At the end of the email, he warned that not responding would be seen as a resignation.
Cabinet secretaries told employees not to reply to the email, which made Musk backtrack on his threats.
The Trump administration has reversed this latest round of layoffs (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Musk shared his thoughts on X, which used to be called Twitter, saying, “The passing grade is basically just ‘Can you send an email that makes any sense at all?’. It’s a really low standard.”
In another message, he mentioned that the email was just a way to find out “who is alive and has two functioning brain cells.”
Many government agencies have faced cuts due to DOGE, which is said to be an outside advisor to the president but doesn’t actually make decisions.
According to the Trump administration, 80,000 employees at Veterans Affairs will be let go after the agency has already dismissed 1,000 workers.
Employees at the Internal Revenue Service are also at risk, with plans to reduce their staff.
Following DOGE’s advice, this could mean that 90,000 IRS employees might lose their jobs.
Other government agencies are also feeling the impact of Musk’s push to save money.
The Forest Service is losing 3,000 workers, and another 5,000 have been let go from jobs in national parks, forests, and other federal lands.
Featured Image Credit: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images