Former National Labour Relations Board member sues Trump for firing her
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
US President Donald Trump on Jan 27 also fired two of the three Democratic commissioners on the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - A former member of the National Labor Relations Board sued US President Donald Trump on Feb 5, saying he illegally fired her from the agency that protects American workers’ rights.
Ms Gwynne Wilcox said her Jan 27 firing, in a late-night e-mail from the White House, violated the National Labor Relations Act, which says board members can be fired only for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office and for no other cause.
The NLRB enforces workers’ rights to organise, advocate for better working conditions, and join or dissolve unions.
In her complaint filed in the Washington DC, federal court, she called her termination “part of a string of openly illegal firings” by Mr Trump early in his second term.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr Trump also ousted NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo on Jan 27, though her firing was expected.
Former president Joe Biden fired the general counsel appointed by Mr Trump, Mr Peter Robb, on Inauguration Day in 2021.
Ms Wilcox, the NLRB’s first Black female member, was appointed to the board by Mr Biden, and her five-year term was scheduled to expire in 2028.
She is the first board member terminated since the agency was created in 1935, and her departure left the NLRB with just two of five seats filled, denying it a quorum.
That brings the agency to an effective standstill, with hundreds of cases pending against such companies as Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Tesla, Amazon.com, Apple and Walmart.
Starbucks also faces dozens of cases, amid a nationwide campaign to unionise the coffee chain’s workers.
No ‘test case’
Ms Wilcox is seeking a court order for NLRB chairman Marvin Kaplan, who is also a defendant, to restore her to the board.
She said she does not want to be a “test case,” but staying silent threatened the independence of the NLRB and other federal agencies.
When Congress established the NLRB, “it made sure that the law would protect its independence from political influence,” Ms Wilcox said in a statement. “My removal, without cause or process, directly violates that law.”
Mr Trump on Jan 27 also fired Ms Charlotte Burrows and Ms Jocelyn Samuels, two of the three Democratic commissioners on the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent agency that enforces federal laws banning workplace discrimination. Their dismissals were also unprecedented and could herald legal challenges.
More than 20 companies, including Amazon.com and Mr Musk’s SpaceX, have filed lawsuits saying the president should be able to fire NLRB board members at will, and that the agency’s in-house enforcement procedures are unconstitutional.
Ms Abruzzo has not sued over her dismissal, and might face an uphill fight if she tried.
In 2022 and 2023, two federal appeals courts rejected claims that Mr Biden’s dismissal of Robb was improper. REUTERS