Attorney Morris Fischer said the controversy surrounding the CFPB's performance rating system is just one example of widespread human resources failures in federal government agencies.

"I think what leaps off the page here when I read about something like this is just the failure of government," Fischer, who runs Morris Fischer Law, a Washington-based labor and employment law firm, said. He responded to a request to share his opinion on how the CFPB handled charges of racial discrimination by retroactively awarding aggrieved employees higher scores and raises.

"I have done a number of cases and I can tell you what typically happens in the federal government is there is absolutely very little paperwork backing up what the performance rating is," he added.