The House Financial ServicesCommittee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee willinvestigate allegations the CFPB engaged in discrimination andretaliation against its employees

CU Times will cover the hearing onsite from CapitolHill on Wednesday, April 2 at 10 a.m. Eastern.

The subcommittee hearing follows reports, first published inAmerican Banker, that CFPB managers showed a pattern ofranking white employees distinctly better than minorities inperformance reviews, which were used to grant raises and issuebonuses. CFPB management was also accused in several cases offavoring Caucasian men and of creating a hostile workenvironment.

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The reports prompted Financial Services Committee Chairman JebHensarling (R-Texas), Oversight and Investigations SubcommitteeChairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), and Financial Institutions andConsumer Credit Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito(R-W.Va.) to write CFPB Director Richard Cordray on March 6 andrequest CFPB records related to employee performance reviews.

In addition to the allegations of racial discrimination, thethree committee leaders wrote they were concerned about the numberof discrimination claims CFPB employees have also filed on thebasis of age, religion, sex, disability, and national origin.

Democratic members of the Financial Services Committee followedsuit on March 24, asking inspectors general at the Federal Reserveto investigate CFPB personnel policies for possiblediscrimination.

The group also requested inspectors general at other federalagencies, including the NCUA and FDIC, review of internaloperations to “determine whether any personnel practices havecreated a discriminatory workplace or otherwise systematicallydisadvantaged minorities from obtaining senior managementpositions.”

In the letter sent to the Federal Reserve Inspector General MarkBialek, Financial Services Committee Ranking Member Maxine Waters(D-Calif.) and other Democrats on the committee expressed concernover the discrimination allegations.