A judge has put on hold the layoffs of nearly 1,500 employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) while she considers whether the Trump administration violated a court order to avoid widespread layoffs. Judge Amy Berman Jackson said mass layoffs "are not happening at this time," and scheduled an evidentiary hearing for April 28, CNN reported.
The ruling will temporarily prevent the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from being eliminated, a decision announced to employees yesterday by CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought. Court filings show the layoffs will result in the layoffs of 1,483 of the agency's 1,690 employees, resulting in significant headcount reductions across multiple departments, including its consumer response and data protection teams. The layoffs also come with a statement shifting the CFPB's mission away from investigating digital payment platforms, medical debt and several other areas.
The administration has spent years trying to oust top officials responsible for maintaining the privacy and security of the sensitive information it collects. An attorney for the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), which represents employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), said in a sworn statement that they were informed that "virtually everyone" in the agency's Privacy, Safety and Cybersecurity division had been told they would be laid off.
NTEU claims the move violates a March court order that barred the Trump administration from carrying out a previous plan to dismantle the agency, pushed by the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE). Judge Berman Jackson's ruling in the lawsuit prohibits firing employees unless the firing is based on a "specific assessment" of the employee's role. The NTEU said this was extremely unlikely to occur in this case. Berman-Jackson also said she was "concerned about the agency's compliance" with the order and has directed the administration to submit documentation of its actions to the union as the case progresses.
Erie Meyer, former chief technologist for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), said the layoffs threaten Americans' basic data protections and their privacy. "They fired everyone who was responsible for protecting the bureau's data except for one cybersecurity person, which officially opened up an attack on consumers, and I'm very concerned that vulnerable groups will be targeted," Meyer said.