CFPB workers are reinstated after a court order, but many still can’t work

Terminated employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) have been brought back to work in response to a judge’s order — sort of. 

Probationary employees (a class of government workers who are newer to an agency or role) received letters over the weekend notifying them that they were reinstated into their positions, following a court order requiring the CFPB and 17 other agencies to restore such employees. The CFPB terminated 117 probationary employees between February 11th and 13th, and reinstated them as of Monday afternoon, according to a recent court filing from the agency’s acting chief human capital officer Adam Martinez. But all those workers were “immediately placed on administrative leave status while the CFPB continues to act to comply with the TRO [temporary restraining order] and/or employees are to be assigned work by management/supervisors,” Martinez wrote. Across agencies, nearly 25,000 total probationary employees had been fired and are being reinstated under the order.

That means at least for now, many CFPB employees who have been reinstated nevertheless aren’t really back to work. In a copy of a reinstatement notice viewed by The Verge, an employee was informed that while their responsibilities and compensation had been reinstated, they were still on administrative leave until instructed otherwise. Presumably this means they are still paid but are excused from their duties, though it’s unclear what it means for their “responsibilities” to be reinstated. According to the letter, employees will receive backpay from the date of their termination, and workers’ official personnel file will have no record of the termination occurring. The letter does not directly ask whether employees want to return to work, though Adam Martinez, the acting chief human capital officer who sent the notices, wrote that he’d appreciate an acknowledgment of receipt.  

The CFPB headquarters is still closed. Some reinstated employees still need to get their access to the systems and even equipment returned to them in order to do their jobs, but have been told that HR guidance is pending on how that will work.

A union representing CFPB employees has been arguing in a separate court case that the Trump administration is trying to illegally wind down the agency, which had about 1,700 employees before the cuts. Martinez testified in federal court last week about the frightening week that DOGE showed up at the agency, but also said that the agency’s new acting leadership is more measured — in his words, “There’s hope.” A CFPB employee appointed to lead the team in charge of mass firings, however, testified about the administration’s alleged plans to terminate 1,200 employees and shut down the agency, and that there’d been no change in plans even after the judge had previously ordered a pause on further firings.

Updated March 18th, 2025: Added the number of reinstated workers at the CFPB as declared in a new court filing.