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Allegations of Discrimination and Retaliation Against CFPB Employees to Be Focus of Hearing Next Week

Washington, Mar 26 -

Allegations that the CFPB has engaged in discrimination and retaliation against its employees will be the subject of a Financial Services Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing next week.

The subcommittee hearing comes amid reports, first published in the American Banker, that CFPB managers “show a pattern of ranking white employees distinctly better than minorities in performance reviews used to grant raises and issue bonuses” and that “management has been accused in several cases of favoring Caucasian men and of creating a hostile work environment.”

Those reports prompted Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-NC), and Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) to write CFPB Director Richard Cordray on March 6 and request CFPB records related to employee performance reviews.

In addition to the allegations of racial discrimination raised in the American Banker article, the three committee leaders wrote they are concerned about the number of discrimination claims CFPB employees have also filed on the basis of age, religion, sex, disability, and national origin.

"The revelations uncovered in the American Banker story are extremely troubling,” said Chairman McHenry. “Coupled with the significant number of discrimination claims filed by CFPB employees, this raises serious questions about the management of the Bureau.”

Chairman McHenry has invited two CFPB officials to testify at the hearing: M. Stacey Bach, Assistant Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity Employment; and Liza Strong, Director of Employee Relations. In addition, Chairman McHenry has invited Robert Cauldwell, President of the NTEU Chapter 335, the Bureau’s employee union, to appear at Wednesday’s hearing.

The Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing will take place on Wednesday, April 2 at 10 a.m. in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building.