- Key insight: The CFPB said in a memo that roughly 450 out-of-state workers must relocate to Washington, D.C. — a move that's seemingly calculated to force mass resignations.
- What's at stake: The return-to-office plan, created by acting CFPB Director Russell Vought, is expected to lead to further employee losses and attrition.
- Forward look: The relocation begins June 1, with a final, hard deadline of Aug. 31 for all employees based anywhere in the U.S. to comply or face possible firing.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is pulling the plug on remote work, ordering its staff of 1,100 employees to return to work five days per week at a new headquarters in Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, Adam Martinez, the CFPB's chief operating officer, said in a memo obtained by American Banker that employees will begin moving to the new headquarters on June 1. He told staff that the CFPB is ending telework and shrinking its footprint further after officially terminating leases on all four of its regional offices.
All staff, including 450 employees who live outside the D.C. area, are being reassigned to the CFPB's new headquarters at 445 12th Street, SW. The building is the former headquarters of the Federal Communications Commission and the current offices of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
The return-to-work policy comes as the Trump administration
Acting CFPB Director Russell Vought has tried
The bureau has been locked in a legal battle with the National Treasury Employees Union, which is fighting to keep alive an injunction that has blocked Vought from firing CFPB staff. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is expected to issue a ruling soon on whether the Trump administration can continue with mass firings through a "revised" reduction in force, or RIF.
Martinez said in the memo that the move to the new headquarters will begin on June 1. Senior leadership and supervisors will report to work starting July 6, while all D.C.-area staff will be expected to return to work five days a week on July 13. The final deadline for remaining employees, including those currently located across the country, will be Aug. 31. Employees will receive official "move-in" orders by June 26, Martinez said in the memo.
The CFPB explicitly stated that decisions about returning to work will not be based on "employee convenience." Exemptions will be reserved solely for "hard to fill" roles that are critical to the administration's agenda. The CFPB is also initiating a full reevaluation of all telework agreements with new, stricter guidelines.
"Decisions will not be based on the convenience of the employee," the memo states. "The Director reserves the right to consider and approve exemptions from the execution of this plan."
While the bureau will cover relocation costs for eligible staff, the choice is stark for hundreds of CFPB employees who will have to move to the Beltway or find other work. Some staffers said the notice is intended to prompt field employees to quit rather than uproot themselves and move to D.C.
Last month, the U.S. Treasury's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency terminated the CFPB's 14-year lease on its former headquarters and agreed to transfer the property to the federal government's General Services Administration
Interestingly, the memo said that Vought locked CFPB employees out of their former headquarters at 1700 G Street last February, "due to serious security concerns." At the time, a few staffers were protesting his efforts to remake the agency, and employees' access cards would not let them enter or exit the building.
"The CFPB had to close its building due to serious security concerns, resulting in telework for most of the employees," the memo stated.
The memo cited several executive orders from President Trump, including Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, initiatives designed to cut federal jobs in connection with the return-to-office mandate.
