RSSThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it will not attend the April 2 hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on employee discrimination at the bureau.
A CFPB attorney is expected to give testimony about gender discrimination she experienced at the bureau. The attorney also claims she was a victim of retaliation after she filed an official discrimination complaint. An outside investigator who examined her claims is also scheduled to testify, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The bureau refused to testify on the issue claiming it would violate employees’ rights to privacy and due process. The CFPB also claimed it would undermine the integrity of its internal labor relations processes.
The hearing was spurred by a recent report from the American Banker which showed broad employment discrimination at the CFPB. About 21 percent of the CFPB’s white employees received the highest possible performance rating at their yearend review. Only 9 percent of Hispanics received such a rating, under 11 percent of blacks and 15.5 percent of Asians scored the highest possible performance rating. The CFPB has drawn widespread criticism for the disparate impact of its employee review process because it has spent the last year threatening banks with legal action if their lending policies have a disparate impact.
