NonilexAfter the #Trump admin sent termination notices on Thurs to 90% of employees at the #CFPB — some 1,500 people — Judge #AmyBermanJackson of the Federal District Court in Washington ordered a hearing at 11AM today. She is seeking to determine if the terminations violated an injunction she imposed barring agency ofcls from dismantling the bureau so completely that it cannot carry out its legally mandated duties.
In court filings ahead of the hearing, Mark Paoletta, the bureau’s chief legal officer, defended the #purge, which he said would “right-size” an agency filled w/ “vast waste.” Paoletta said he & others had determined that it needed only 200 workers. Many legally required units — including those that focus on #FairLending, #StudentLoans & protections for older Americans — need only one! employee, he said.
#law #Trump #CFPB #consumers #finance #protections #corruption
Ahead of Fri’s court hearing on Thur’s #job cuts at the #CFPB, the #union repping the bureau’s staff countered w/their own legal filings that said the #MassFiring would make it impossible to perform the agency’s required tasks. E.G., the agency said that it was cutting the Office #Consumer Response, which expects to handle 5M complaints this year, to 20 workers down from 149. The office’s chief of staff…said…that “the office will be incapable of performing its statutory duties”….
Judge #AmyBermanJackson of the Federal District Court in Washington said she intended to issue an order later on Friday preventing the #CFPB’s workers from being cut off from the agency’s system, as the agency’s leaders had planned. She said she intended to follow up later this month with a more extensive hearing on the planned #layoffs. Until then, they will not move forward, she said.
Judge #AmyBermanJackson said she is “deeply concerned” that #Trump admin ofcls aren’t complying with her earlier order that maintains the #CFPB’s existence until she rules on the merits of a lawsuit seeking to preserve it.
During the hearing, Jackson said she will bar ofcls from any #MassFirings or cutting off employees’ access to bureau computer systems.
Jackson scheduled a hearing on April 28 to hear testimony from ofcls who were working on the reduction in force, or #RIF, procedures.