The House Financial Services Committee Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee will investigate allegations the CFPB engaged in discrimination and retaliation against its employees

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

The subcommittee hearing follows reports, first published in American Banker, that CFPB managers showed a pattern of ranking white employees distinctly better than minorities in performance reviews, which were used to grant raises and issue bonuses. CFPB management was also accused in several cases of favoring Caucasian men and of creating a hostile work environment.

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The reports prompted Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), and Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee Chairman Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) 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, the three committee leaders wrote they were concerned about the number of discrimination claims CFPB employees have also filed on the basis of age, religion, sex, disability, and national origin.

Democratic members of the Financial Services Committee followed suit on March 24, asking inspectors general at the Federal Reserve to investigate CFPB personnel policies for possible discrimination. 

The group also requested inspectors general at other federal agencies, including the NCUA and FDIC, review of internal operations to “determine whether any personnel practices have created a discriminatory workplace or otherwise systematically disadvantaged minorities from obtaining senior management positions.”

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