Has the CFPB found a backdoor way to force employees out?

Until recently, the CFPB had regional offices around the country, and of course, some employees were assigned to these offices. But according to Bloomberg Law’s Evan Weinberger, the Bureau has told the employees who worked at these offices that if they wanted to keep their jobs, they had only two weeks to decide whether they would move to the Washington, D.C. office, where they were being reassigned. Given that the administration has been trying to close the CFPB for over a year (remember how they were going to reduce the Bureau to a “room at Treasury, White House, or Federal Reserve with five men and a phone in it”?), and that the CFPB is supposed to protect consumers in the entire country (not just in the Washington, D.C. area), it’s difficult to see this as anything other than a bad faith attempt to force employees to quit.  Finding a new home and moving–which may entail moving spouses and children as well–is a challenge under the best of circumstances. Doing so for an administration which has made clear it wants to shutter the Bureau means undertaking a significant life change and expense while assuming the risk that you will arrive only to be laid off. And allowing people only two weeks to decide is another sign of bad faith.