Consumer Bureau Orders Staff Back to D.C.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced on Wednesday that it will reassign virtually all of its staff nationwide to its Washington, D.C., headquarters later this year. The move ends remote work arrangements and closes the agency’s regional presence across the country.

The decision affects roughly 450 employees currently stationed near former CFPB regional offices in San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, and New York. Officials say the relocation is expected to increase the pace of resignations already underway at the agency.

What the Return-to-Office Mandate Requires

According to an internal memo obtained by Reuters, staff currently based at the agency’s Washington headquarters must return to the office five days a week beginning July 13. Senior leadership and supervisors are required to report starting July 6.

Beginning August 31, all employees whose duty stations are more than 50 miles from headquarters, including those tied to former regional offices and all field staff, must report to the new Washington location. Employees will receive official relocation orders by June 26.

The CFPB stated that relocation costs will be covered for “eligible” staff members in line with current federal regulations. The memo also made clear that decisions about returning to work will not be based on “employee convenience.”

The CFPB’s new headquarters is located at 445 12th Street, SW in Washington, the former home of the Federal Communications Commission and current offices of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. The building sits in a part of the capital that is described in the internal email as less easily accessible by public transportation than the agency’s previous location.

The Trump administration canceled the lease on the CFPB’s former headquarters near the White House in February. That building now serves in part as office space for Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, who also holds the title of acting CFPB director.

The memo cited executive orders from President Donald Trump, including Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiatives tied to cutting federal jobs, as part of the justification for the return-to-office mandate.

Workforce Losses and Legal Battles

The CFPB has lost about a third of its roughly 1,700-person workforce since the Trump administration called for the agency’s abolition and froze most of its activities last year. The bureau had approximately 1,750 employees at the end of the Biden administration.

The Trump administration has been fighting in court for more than a year to dismiss the vast majority of the agency’s remaining workforce. Those efforts have been blocked by the courts so far. The administration is now seeking court permission to cut the bureau’s staff roughly in half, down to about 550 employees.

The bureau is locked in an ongoing legal dispute with the National Treasury Employees Union, which has fought to preserve an injunction blocking acting Director Vought from firing CFPB staff. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is expected to issue a ruling on that matter soon.

Cat Farman, president of the union chapter representing most CFPB employees, issued a statement calling the relocation announcement “another illegal attempt to drive workers to quit and to close the agency.”

“Instead of pardoning corporate criminals and shrinking CFPB’s nationwide presence to just Washington, D.C., we demand a CFPB that values its workers and prioritizes serving all Americans,” Farman said. Some staffers have said the notice is designed to push field employees into quitting rather than relocating to the D.C. area.

Representatives for the CFPB did not respond to a request for comment on the relocation announcement.

Background on the CFPB

Congress created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in 2010 to serve as the top U.S. government watchdog for consumer financial protection. President Donald Trump and other top administration officials have described the CFPB as a politicized burden on free enterprise.

Democrats and defenders of the agency have pushed back, saying efforts to eliminate or gut the bureau amount to a giveaway to corporations at the expense of everyday consumers. The agency has officially terminated leases on all four of its regional offices.

Vought locked CFPB employees out of their former headquarters at 1700 G Street last February, citing “serious security concerns.” The memo noted that the building closure resulted in most employees shifting to telework, the arrangement now being formally ended under the new policy. The U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency later terminated the CFPB’s 14-year lease on that building and transferred the property to the General Services Administration at no cost.

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