Two weeks after being let go by Elon Musk’s DOGE, hundreds of government workers have been urged to return to work.
The Trump administration authorized layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention just two weeks ago.
However, 180 former workers were taken aback when they received an email telling them to go back to work a few days later.
“Read this email immediately” was the email’s subject line.
“You should return to duty under your previous work schedule,” the note’s body stated. We sincerely regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
This is in line with an Associated Press account.
Recently hired employees who were still on probation were among those who had been relieved of their jobs.
The number of workers who are going back to work after having their redundancies restored is unknown at this time.
Following Musk’s announcement that he was implementing widespread cuts to reduce federal spending, government employees’ concerns about their job security have increased in recent weeks.
Musk had requested all federal employees to submit a list of five things they had done that week in a contentious email.
Musk threatened that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation” at the end of the email.
The billionaire was compelled to retract his threats after cabinet secretaries told staff not to respond to the email.
“The passing grade is literally just ‘Can you send an email with words that make any sense at all?'” Musk said on X, which was then Twitter. The bar is low.
Musk stated in a different article that the purpose of the email was just to determine “who had a pulse and two working neurons.”
DOGE, which is supposed to be an outside advisor to the president but has no real decision-making power, has cut funding to numerous government institutions.
After firing 1,000 employees, a Trump administration official said that 80,000 Veterans Affairs employees will lose their jobs.
With efforts to reduce the number of employees, Internal Revenue Service employees are also risking layoffs.
According to DOGE’s recommendation, this might result in the loss of 90,000 agency positions.
Musk’s resolve to reduce expenses has also been directed at other government organizations.
An additional 5,000 employees have been let go from their positions in national parks, forests, and other federal public lands, while the Forest Service is losing 3,000 employees.