Treasury Union Files Suit to Combat CFPB Shutdown

The CFPB’s sudden weekend shutdown is now the subject of a federal lawsuit.

A union representing employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit Sunday (Feb. 9) against Russell Vought, acting head of the agency. This came after Vought essentially halted all of the bureau’s enforcement efforts.

“CFPB employees have been placed in questionable status as they have been directed not to work but they have also not been formally placed on any authorized type of leave,” says the filing from the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents the CFPB workers.

“It is substantially likely that these initial directives are a precursor to a purge of CFPB’s workforce, which is now prohibited from fulfilling the agency’s statutory mission.”

Staff at the financial regulator were told to work remotely this week while their headquarters are shut down, per a report Sunday by CNBC. Vought had also reportedly instructed workers to cease “all supervision and examination activity” and “all stakeholder engagement,” essentially shutting down the CFPB’s operations.

Vought, who also oversees the Office of Management and Budget, was appointed acting director of the CFPB last week, days after former CFPB director Rohit Chopra was fired by President Donald Trump.

“As acting director, I am committed to implementing the president’s policies, consistent with the law, and acting as a faithful steward of the bureau’s resources,” Vought wrote in the email, which was obtained by the New York Times.

Vought wrote in a post on X Saturday that the CFPB was carrying an “excessive” balance of $711.6 million, and as such, he had informed the Federal Reserve that he wouldn’t accept more funding for the agency because it is not “reasonably necessary.”

“This spigot, long contributing to CFPB’s unaccountability, is now being turned off,” Vought said.

In a separate lawsuit, the union asks a judge to bar the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from accessing CFPB employee information. The suit says that three DOGE staffers were given entry to the bureau’s in-house communications system, and that Vought told his staff to grant the DOGE team “access to all non-classified CFPB systems.”

The union contends that the DOGE-connected staffers should not be given access to CFPB systems, including employee information.

“CFPB has a statutory responsibility to protect the information that it collects and maintains about its employees from unlawful disclosure to third parties,” the suit says.

“The Bureau has acted contrary to law and regulation by granting DOGE and its members access to the records that the Bureau collects and maintains about every CFPB employee.”