Unions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issue alarm over imminent job cuts impacting approximately 95% of the agency's workforce.

Unions at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issue alarm over imminent job cuts impacting approximately 95% of the agency's workforce.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is currently embroiled in a legal controversy, with a mass layoff of over 95% of its employees planned by Acting Director Russ Vought. The union and the city of Baltimore have filed separate lawsuits, each challenging Vought's appointment and the impact of the layoffs on the agency's operations.

The National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, arguing that Vought's actions to dismantle the CFPB are arbitrary, capricious, and an abuse of discretion. The union also contends that Vought was not legally appointed as the CFPB's acting director, and that the bureau's deputy director, Zixta Martinez, should be placed in charge of the bureau.

The union's lawsuit is not the only legal challenge facing Vought. The city of Baltimore and Economic Action Fund Maryland sued the CFPB on Wednesday, claiming Vought's efforts to defund the agency stand as an attempt to bypass Congress. The lawsuit alleges that Vought's plan to return the CFPB's operating reserves to the Federal Reserve would eliminate the agency's entire budget.

The layoffs, which targeted term employees, were carried out on Thursday. The CFPB has also cancelled nearly all contracts that underlie its consumer complaint function, which fields roughly 350,000 consumer complaints a month. The bureau's escalated case management team, which handles time-sensitive matters such as foreclosures, is not operating due to a stop-work order issued by Vought.

In addition to the layoffs, the firings affected fellows with two-year contracts and participants in the CFPB director's "Financial Analyst" program. The city of Baltimore and Economic Action Fund Maryland's lawsuit is a separate legal action from the union's lawsuit in the District of Columbia.

It is important to note that, while the CFPB under current leadership is actively engaged in regulatory adaptations and managing court challenges to some rules, there is no publicly available information in the recent 2025 records that confirms any legal challenges specifically targeting Russ Vought's proposed mass layoffs or CFPB organizational changes.

This ongoing legal battle comes as the CFPB is in the midst of regulatory adaptations, with the bureau having published new policy statements on tackling criminal regulatory offenses in response to a presidential executive order, while also implementing rollbacks and rescissions of prior rules or guidance.

In 2018, a pair of trade groups sued the CFPB, alleging its funding structure was unconstitutional because it received appropriations through the Fed rather than Congress. However, the Supreme Court upheld the CFPB's funding mechanism last May.

The mass layoffs at the CFPB are part of President Donald Trump's "workforce optimization initiative." The CFPB's lease on its Washington headquarters has also been cancelled, with Vought informing the General Services Administration of this decision.

As the legal proceedings continue, monitoring major legal news outlets or official court filings will provide the most accurate and current status of the situation.

1. Amidst the ongoing legal struggles, the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) is not only questioning the legality of Acting Director Russ Vought's appointment and actions but also advocating for the deputy director, Zixta Martinez, to take charge of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).
2. Beyond the union's lawsuit, the city of Baltimore and Economic Action Fund Maryland have also filed a separate legal action, claiming Vought's efforts to defund the CFPB amount to an attempt to bypass Congress, potentially impacting the general-news sector, business, politics, and even crime-and-justice by affecting consumer-related issues and financial regulations.

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