The acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has instructed employees based in its Washington, D.C. headquarters to retrieve their personal belongings, a move that suggests agency leadership is preparing for a significant staff reduction, according to a published report. The instructions were sent in advance of a ruling from the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia over whether the Bureau can proceed with a plan to fire 1,500 of its 1,700 employees.
Employees received an email from the CFPB’s facilities unit directing them to sign up for one of four designated dates this month to collect their belongings, according to the report. The sign-up form capped access at 100 employees per day and warned that any items not collected by June 11 would be considered abandoned and “disposed of.” That policy was later amended after negotiations with the National Treasury Employees Union, which secured an agreement for facilities staff to box up any remaining personal items for later retrieval.
The order follows months of escalating attempts by CFPB Acting Director Russell Vought to dramatically scale back the agency’s operations. Vought locked staff out of the building in February, removed the CFPB’s signage, and has reportedly allowed only a handful of employees inside to work on ongoing rulemakings. The Trump administration has publicly stated its desire on multiple occasions to reduce the CFPB to a skeleton crew operating from the Treasury Department.
Vought’s confidence appears tied to the pending case Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where a three-judge panel heard arguments May 16 over whether the administration can proceed with firing nearly 1,500 of the Bureau’s roughly 1,700 employees. A lower court previously blocked the effort, but a reversal could clear the path for mass terminations.
The CFPB’s workforce has already been diminished through attrition, as many employees have retired or resigned in anticipation of the cuts. The Bureau has also moved to sever its lease with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which owns the building being used for the CFPB’s headquarters. The OCC is reportedly in discussions with other government agencies about taking over the space.
The CFPB did not respond to a request for comment, according to the report.
