Over 1,400 employees who were about to be laid off from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) will be able to keep working for at least another week after a federal judge intervened in the dismantling of the independent regulator on Friday.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington, DC, said the Trump administration could not move forward with the layoffs, which hit roughly 90 percent of the agency, until it presents more evidence about how the terminations have been carried out. The employees learned on Thursday that they were going to lose access to agency systems the following evening and their final date of employment would be June 16. Now, a hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 28. Jackson had previously issued a ruling slowing the firings of probationary employees at the CFPB in February.
Since its establishment by Congress in 2010, the CFPB has helped consumers fight banks and other companies over dubious fees, racial discrimination in lending, and a number of scams. But some conservatives have called for the agency to be dismantled to limit the regulation of businesses, and some companies, including tech giants, have questioned its expanding oversight. This week, an agency official told staff that cases on medical debt, student loans, consumer data, and digital payments would be de-prioritized.
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