Judge pauses mass firing of consumer protection workers

A judge temporarily paused terminations of over 1500 CFPB employees while assessing compliance with a court order on mass layoffs. The agency aims to reduce workforce in departments like consumer response and data protection, shifting focus away from digital payments and medical debt. Employees are being targeted for roles in privacy and cybersecurity despite legal restrictions on individual evaluations. Concerns have been raised by a former CFPB chief technologist about the potential erasure of critical security personnel protecting sensitive data.