A federal judge on Friday ruled that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) cannot fire employees without cause, dealing a blow to the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the federal workforce.

The ruling comes after the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Thursday directed federal agencies to begin firing its employees who are still in their probationary period, despite having been employed for a year or more. 

The order stems from a lawsuit by the National Treasury Employees Union and the CFPB Employee Association, which sued the CFPB and its acting director Russell Vought, over the mass firings.  

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled that the agency cannot fire its employees without cause, and instructed the CFPB not to delete any of its data. Both parties have agreed to the order, per NBC News.

"Defendants shall not terminate any CFPB employee, except for cause related to the specific employee’s performance or conduct; nor shall Defendants issue any notice of reduction-in-force to any CFPB employee," the judge wrote.

Berman Jackson also instructed Vought not to attempt to reduce the amount of money available to the agency, after he tried to cut off additional CFPB funding last week.

The order comes as President Donald Trump and his allies work to restructure the federal government. OPM even gave federal employees a different way out last week, by offering them a buyout deal where they would resign voluntarily in exchange for retaining their benefits and being paid through September.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.