Tech billionaire Elon Musk's ploy to strong-arm large sections of the federal workforce into taking "deferred resignations" is not going to work, wrote Michael Embrich for Rolling Stone.
Federal workers were given this offer by a bizarre email titled "Fork in the Road" — an ultimatum that was eerily similar to that given to employees at Twitter when Musk took over that business. Already the proposal has run into complications and criticism, and a federal judge has paused the deadline on that offer, which was supposed to be today.
"Despite repeated emails, misleading promises, and thinly veiled threats, the so-called 'deferred resignation' program is flopping," wrote Embrich, a veteran and former Veterans Affairs adviser. "Instead of persuading career civil servants to abandon their posts, Musk’s latest scheme is exposing the administration’s desperation and legal recklessness. Less than 1 percent of federal workers have taken the offer. The recent legal filing by the American Federation of Government Employees and two federal employees seeking a restraining order against Musk’s DOGE further hampers Musk’s plans. In the end, this debacle will likely cost the federal government more in legal fees, settlements, and billable legal hours than ever."
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Musk meant to send a clear message with this ultimatum, wrote Embrich: either take a buyout now, or risk being fired later anyway and getting nothing. But there's a simple reason civil servants are calling his bluff.
"The tens of thousands of veterans who transitioned to government service after their military careers know the law," he wrote. "The government cannot pay a federal worker for work they did not perform unless Congress specifically authorizes it. That would most likely take years. In any case, there is no guarantee that Congress would ever approve such funding, especially given the ongoing dysfunction, with Republicans struggling to fund their own government, draft a reconciliation bill, or elect a leader. Federal employees know their rights, and they recognize this scheme for what it is: an illegal power play riddled with political gamesmanship and destined for legal challenges."
It's all par for the course from Musk though, he added, who "has never let legality get in the way of his whims," playing fast and loose with everything from Securities and Exchange Commission regulations to union laws.
Ultimately, Embrich concluded, federal workers "are holding the line — refusing to abandon our posts, refusing to be intimidated, and exposing this reckless power grab for what it is. We all took an oath to support and defend OUR Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That oath never expires. Musk wouldn’t know. He never took it."
