Judge pauses mass firing of consumer protection workers

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 mai ... Read full article.