WASHINGTON— A federal labor union is pushing back against the CFPB's latest attempt to move forward with sweeping layoffs, telling the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that any request to revive the agency’s reduction-in-force plan belongs first before U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, whose injunction has been blocking mass job cuts, Law360 reported.
The filing came after the Bureau sought expedited relief tied to a plan that would eliminate roughly half of its remaining workforce.
The dispute centers on the Trump administration’s revised CFPB staffing proposal, disclosed in a March 31 court filing, that would leave the Bureau with 556 employees—down from more than 1,100 at the time of the filing and well below the roughly 1,700 employees the agency had when President Trump returned to office. Reuters reported the Administration framed the proposal as a retreat from its earlier effort to effectively hollow out the Bureau, while still arguing major cuts are necessary.
In its latest response, the National Treasury Employees Union argued the CFPB was trying to sidestep the trial judge by asking the appeals court to modify its stay and impose what the union called an “artificial deadline.” Banking Dive reported the union said there was no true emergency, while Law360 said the union’s central point was that Jackson should evaluate first whether the Bureau’s new layoff plan complies with the existing injunction and with the agency’s statutory obligations.
The latest fight is the newest turn in the long-running NTEU v. Vought battle over whether the Administration can dramatically shrink the CFPB without effectively dismantling an agency Congress created after the 2008 financial crisis. The D.C. Circuit’s April 28, 2025, order had revived protections against mass firings after an earlier partial stay, and judges at February 2026 oral argument openly pressed the Administration over whether it was trying to shut the Bureau down in all but name.