US Consumer Watchdog will extend layoffs beyond probationary staff, sources say
Douglas Gillison, Nupur Anand, Chris Prentice, Pete Schroeder
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Employees in the new category of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Agency received a termination notice Thursday, according to five sources and a firing letter. staff.
Notifications for dozens of so-called “term employees,” full-time workers responsible for contracts with the termination date began arriving Thursday evening. Employees reviewed by Reuters.
Some staff discovered they lost access to the agency’s IT system before receiving the firing letter, two sources said.
The Management and Budget office, also run by CFPB’s acting director Russell Vought and the CFPB, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reuters could not immediately confirm how many employees had been fired.
The firing is part of a drastic effort by President Donald Trump and his aide, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, to reduce the federal bureaucracy. Trump says the government is bloated and too much money is being lost due to waste and fraud. Also, shootings had begun elsewhere in the federal government, including the Department of Education and Small Business Management.
But the actions of the Trump administration are increasingly challenging. Critics have questioned the administration’s approach, and experts flag concerns about the legality of terminations, as most civil servants may be fired only for performance or misconduct. I’m standing it up.
Earlier Thursday, the CFPB employee unions and organizations including the Association of Colors across the country filed federal lawsuits and called on courts to block the Trump administration’s efforts to kill the agency.
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The latest filing letter of filing for CFPB employees dated February 13th was sent by the agency’s chief executive, Adam Martinez.
Term employees have contracts of more than one year and up to four years, according to federal regulations. Their first year of service is the exam period that the institution can complete at any time. The two notifications reviewed by Reuters were for employees who had been in the agency for more than a year.
“The purpose of this memorandum is to notify you of the end of employment upon the end of business on February 13, 2025,” writes Martinez.