U.S. District Court Pauses Mass Firings at CFPB 

April 18, 2025 — Press Release

CFPB Employees Union, NCLC, and Others Filed Motion to Show Cause After Layoffs Appear to Violate Court’s Preliminary Injunction 

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to stop mass firings, saying the large-scale reduction in force “is not happening today…That’s an oral order right now,” pending an April 28 hearing to hear testimony from CFPB officials. The judge also said that she was “deeply concerned” that the Trump Administration was not complying with her earlier order to preserve the CFPB during the litigation.

Yesterday, between 1,400 and 1,500 employees received notices of termination, eliminating 90 percent of the CFPB’s workforce and gutting divisions that are mandated by Congress, including the complaints division and the CFPB’s Offices of Servicemember and Veterans Affairs and Older Americans. Some offices were left with only one or two nominal heads, but no employees to do the work.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), Public Citizen Litigation Group, and Gupta Wessler LLP, representing the National Consumer Law Center and other plaintiffs, immediately filed a motion with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asserting that the firings violated Judge Jackson’s March ruling ordering the CFPB to reinstate previously fired employees and stop any reductions in force. 

“The Trump Administration is attempting to illegally shut down the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which does critical work protecting people across the country, and we are gratified that Judge Jackson is not going to tolerate violation of her orders,” said Lauren Saunders, associate director of the National Consumer Law Center. “The courts are the last line of defense against this Administration’s repeated efforts to dismantle the CFPB and clear the way for unscrupulous companies to violate the law and exploit servicemembers, veterans, and their families.” 

An internal memo from Chief Legal Officer Mark Paoletta sent to employees yesterday purported to instruct staff to focus primarily on the financial interests of servicemembers, veterans, and their families, but every employee in the Office of Servicemember Affairs was subsequently fired. The firings also left just a handful of people in the complaints office. In 2023 alone, the CFPB sent more than 1.3 million complaints to more than 3,400 companies for review and response, escalating the most urgent situations, but the reduction in force eliminated the entire complaint escalation team. Paoletta’s memo also stated that the CFPB would “deprioritize” several areas while focusing on others, including mortgages and credit reporting, yet the firings virtually eliminated the capacity to work in any area.

“Hundreds of thousands of consumers file complaints each year with the CFPB over big mistakes and other problems with their credit reports. While the CFPB claims it will focus on credit reporting, it has terminated almost all of the people who handle complaints or oversee the Big Three credit bureaus that control our lives,” said Chi Chi Wu, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center.

“The Administration’s claim that the CFPB is refocusing its priorities is a sham – the firings are an effort to completely dismantle the CFPB and to violate Congress’s mandate to create a consumer watchdog and fix the gaps that led to the devastating 2007 financial crisis,” said Saunders. 

Related Resources

• Press release: CFPB Begins Firings and Ends Oversight of Nonbanks, Big Tech, and Critical Consumer Protection Areas, April 17, 2025
• Legislative Attacks on CFPB Erode Mandatory Funding, Compromise Independence, Weaken Integrity, and Roll-back Protections, Feb. 24, 2025
• CFPB Big Tech Payment App Oversight Rule Protects Personal Data and Reduces Fraud, Feb. 20, 2025