WASHINGTON — The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will begin phasing out telework this week and require most employees to report to its new headquarters in Washington, according to a memo sent by the agency..
The move will affect approximately 1,100 CFPB employees, including roughly 450 workers who currently live outside the Washington area near the agency’s former regional offices in New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Atlanta, reported Banking Dive, which obtained the CFPB memo.
Under the plan, employees will begin relocating to the bureau’s new headquarters at 445 12th St. SW on June 1, Banking Dive reported. Senior leadership and supervisors are scheduled to begin reporting there July 6, followed by approximately 650 employees who live within 50 miles of Washington on July 13. Employees based elsewhere in the country will be required to report to Washington by Aug. 31 and are expected to receive formal relocation orders by June 26, according to the memo from Chief Operating Officer Adam Martinez that was cited by Banking Dive.
Continues to Shrink
The relocation comes as the CFPB continues to shrink under the leadership of Acting Director Russ Vought. As the CU Daily has reported, noted the agency’s workforce has declined to approximately 1,100 employees from about 1,750 at the end of the Biden administration.
The bureau’s new headquarters reportedly has space for about 550 employees, a figure that closely aligns with a workforce reduction plan the CFPB submitted to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in March. That plan projected a staff of 556 employees following a broad reduction-in-force initiative.
Seeking Court Ruling
The CFPB has asked the appeals court to return the matter to a lower court, where it hopes a judge will lift a preliminary injunction that currently blocks widespread layoffs at the agency.
The National Treasury Employees Union, which represents CFPB employees, criticized the relocation effort, arguing it is designed to pressure workers to leave the agency.
In a statement posted on the social media platform Bluesky, the union called the relocation a “forced relocation ploy” and alleged it is part of a broader effort by CFPB leadership to drive employees from public service and weaken the agency.
