EPIC, NCLC Object to Proposed CFPB Recordkeeping Change That Would Jeopardize Worker Privacy

On Monday, EPIC and the National Consumer Law Center submitted comments in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s proposal to permit the disclosure of employee records to the media and the public under certain circumstances. 

EPIC and NCLC strongly objected to the proposal, which would expand the CFPB’s ability to disclose sensitive, personally identifiable data about current and former CFPB employees, volunteers, detailees, applicants, and people who have been offered jobs at the CFPB, as well as their dependents, beneficiaries, and emergency contacts. 

This change to CFPB’s Employee Administrative Records System would undermine the Freedom of Information Act, violate the privacy of people whose information the system contains, unnecessarily risk their safety, and violate the Privacy Act. 

“If this proposal is implemented, it would threaten the privacy, financial, and physical safety of CFPB personnel and potentially enable the CFPB to retaliate against former employees by releasing their personal information,” EPIC and NCLC’s filing reads. 

The CFPB must immediately withdraw this proposal, both organizations argued. 

EPIC has long advocated for both government transparency and the protection of personal information held by federal agencies, including the information of federal workers.