Stephen Wheeler, a data scientist at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2022 and chair of the agency's union organizing committee, was placed on administrative leave effective immediately earlier this month, according to the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 335, which said it was not provided with any specific violations or details of the investigation.
CFPB union chair placed on administrative leave amid undisclosed investigation
Stephen Wheeler, a data scientist at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2022 and chair of the agency's union organizing committee, was placed on administrative leave effective immediately earlier this month, according to the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 335, which said it was not provided with any specific violations or details of the investigation.
The union described Wheeler as a vocal presence at union pickets who sat behind Russell Vought during Vought's congressional testimony in July and had recently spoken with NPR about the forced relocation of CFPB staff. Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, was appointed by President Donald Trump to oversee the CFPB and has called for the agency's abolition.
The union said workers have viewed relocation and return-to-office mandates at the agency as a means to force resignations after an appeals court blocked attempted mass firings at the agency by the Trump administration in June 2026.
A second union member, Alexis Goldstein, was placed on administrative leave in February 2025 and fired in February 2026 after she confronted staff associated with Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, questioning their credentials for accessing agency data and recording their actions. The union filed a grievance over her firing and is awaiting arbitration, which the union says has been delayed by the CFPB; the agency told the union the delay is due to an agency official being on leave.
The Trump administration has sought to dismantle the CFPB since the start of Trump's second term. Vought halted most work at the agency in February 2025. The agency deleted nearly 4,000 webpages from its website earlier this year, including all press releases issued before February 2025. When Trump appointed Vought to oversee the agency in February 2025, Musk posted 'CFPB RIP' on X.
The CFPB was conceived by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren following the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers. The union stated that for every $1 spent on the agency, it returns $2.80 to consumers, and has reimbursed at least $21 billion to consumers since 2010.
- The source does not state what specific conduct or violations prompted the investigation into Wheeler.
- The source does not state who at the CFPB ordered Wheeler's suspension or under what authority.
- The source does not state the expected duration of Wheeler's administrative leave or the timeline of the investigation.
- The source does not state the identity of the agency official on leave whose absence is cited as the reason for the arbitration delay in Goldstein's case.
- The source does not provide the Trump administration's or Vought's stated rationale for the relocation and return-to-office mandates.
- The source does not state the date on which Wheeler was placed on administrative leave, only that it occurred earlier in the month.
Read the original at The Guardian US