Judge pauses mass firing of consumer protection workers

A US judge has paused the mass firing of nearly 1,500 Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) employees, citing concerns that the Trump administration violated a court order to avoid mass layoffs.
The CFPB had announced plans to eliminate 1,483 employees, drastically reducing headcount in several departments, including consumer response and data protection teams.
The administration’s actions are seen as an attempt to dismantle the agency and shift its mission away from investigating digital payment platforms, medical debt, and other areas.
A lawyer for the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) alleges that the layoffs violate a March court order, which barred terminations unless they resulted from a “particularized assessment” of employees’ roles.
The pause in the mass firing is expected to temporarily prevent the CFPB from being nearly eliminated and has been scheduled for an evidentiary hearing on April 28th.

A judge has paused the termination of nearly 1,500 employees from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) while she considers whether the Trump administration violated a court order to avoid mass layoffs. As CNN reports, Judge Amy Berman Jackson said the mass reduction in force was “not going to happen” for now and scheduled an evidentiary hearing for April 28th.

The ruling should temporarily prevent the CFPB from being nearly eliminated, a move that CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought announced to employees yesterday. Documents filed in court indicate that cuts were supposed to eliminate 1,483 of the agency’s 1,690 employees, drastically reducing headcount in several departments, including consumer response and data protection teams. They were accompanied by a statement shifting the CFPB’s mission away from investigating digital payment platforms, medical debt, and several other areas.

The administration has sought to eliminate high-level agency officials responsible for maintaining the privacy and security of sensitive information it’s collected over the years. A lawyer for the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents CFPB employees, said in a sworn declaration that they learned “virtually everyone” in the agency’s privacy, security, and cybersecurity units were told their jobs would be eliminated.

The NTEU alleged that this violated a March court order preventing the Trump administration from carrying out a previous, Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)-spurred attempt to dismantle the agency. Judge Berman Jackson’s ruling in that lawsuit barred terminations unless they resulted from a “particularized assessment” of employees’ roles, something the NTEU says is highly unlikely to have taken place here. Berman Jackson concurred that she had “concerns about whether agency is in compliance” with that order, and she’s instructed the administration to hand over documents about its actions to the union as the case progresses.

Erie Meyer, former chief technologist of the CFPB, tells The Verge that the layoffs threaten basic protections for Americans and their privacy. “With them firing every person in charge of protecting the data that the bureau has except for one person in cybersecurity, it’s officially open season on consumers and I’m extremely concerned about how vulnerable people are going to be targeted,” Meyer says.

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Q. What is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) doing?

A. The CFPB was scheduled to terminate nearly 1,500 employees as part of a mass reduction in force.

Q. Why did the judge pause the termination of these employees?

A. The judge paused the termination due to concerns that it may have violated a court order to avoid mass layoffs.

Q. How many employees were supposed to be eliminated as part of the mass reduction in force?

A. 1,483 employees were supposed to be eliminated out of a total of 1,690 employees at the CFPB.

Q. What was the Trump administration’s plan for the CFPB?

A. The administration planned to drastically reduce headcount in several departments and shift the agency’s mission away from investigating digital payment platforms, medical debt, and other areas.

Q. Who represents the CFPB employees in this case?

A. The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) represents the CFPB employees.

Q. What was the court order that the Trump administration was supposed to follow?

A. A March court order that prevented the Trump administration from carrying out a previous attempt to dismantle the agency unless it resulted from a “particularized assessment” of employees’ roles.

Q. Did the judge agree with the NTEU’s allegations about the court order?

A. Yes, Judge Berman Jackson concurred that she had “concerns about whether the agency is in compliance” with the court order.

Q. What is Erie Meyer, a former CFPB employee, concerned about?

A. Meyer is extremely concerned about how vulnerable consumers will be targeted without the protection of data experts at the CFPB.

Q. When is an evidentiary hearing scheduled to take place?

A. An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for April 28th.

Q. What was the impact of the planned layoffs on the privacy and security of sensitive information collected by the CFPB?

A. The planned layoffs would have drastically reduced headcount in several departments, including consumer response and data protection teams, which are responsible for maintaining the privacy and security of sensitive information.