When the new Trump administration removed Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Jan. 27, it effectively incapacitated the agency.
The NLRB is responsible for mediating labor disputes between U.S. businesses and employees, and needs three members to form a quorum before making decisions. With Wilcox absent, the agency could not function. However, in a March 6 decision, the U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell found that Wilcox’s dismissal was unlawful, a move that was welcomed within the agency.
Video footage of Wilcox returning to the NLRB building on Mar. 10 depicts her being greeted by cheering co-workers. “I have the pleasure of having the best job and really having an impact on people throughout this country and that’s what’s so important,” Wilcox told the Associated Press.
“This case was not about me; it was about the agency and the people who work for the agency and who are so dedicated to our mission.”
Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nevada), co-chair of the Congressional Labor Caucus, was part of the crowd that cheered and welcomed Wilcox when she returned to the NLRB. “This is an independent agency representing the rights and the issues of workers,” Horsford said, “and the fact [is] that her illegal removal really hurt this agency and its ability to do its job. To all of you who work so hard to make sure that workers are represented, I wanted to be here along with all of you, because we understand that this moment is about standing up for workers, and that is what your agency does every single day.”
Wilcox told supporters that when Trump dismissed her on Jan. 27, “I didn’t sleep that night because I was so stunned and disappointed that this was actually happening: that we would not be able to do our work.”
First Black woman on the NLRB board
When Wilcox was appointed to the NLRB by former President Joe Biden, she became the first Black woman to serve on the NLRB board. Her appointment was set to last until August 2028 and she started this year expecting to complete her five-year term. She sued after Trump removed her from the board.
Wilcox claimed that her dismissal violated the foundations of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (the Wagner Act), which states that board members can only be removed if they are found to have neglected their duties.
According to the emailed notification of her dismissal that Wilcox provided in court, Trump dismissed Wilcox and Jennifer Abruzzo, who served as the NLRB’s general counsel, based more on his disagreement with their decision-making than with the conduct of their work. “In my judgment, the National Labor Relations Board is not presently fulfilling its responsibility to the American people,” the text of the email from the Office of Presidential Personnel stated. “The NLRB wields immense executive power over private employment relationships and relations with unions –– an area with vast economic consequences.
“The aims and purposes of the Administration with respect to the work on the Board can be carried out most effectively with personnel of my own selection. To that end, effective as of this date, Gwynne A. Wilcox and Jennifer Abruzzo are hereby removed from the office of Members of the National Labor Relations Board.”
U.S. District Court Judge Howell’s decision reinstating Wilcox found that “[a]t issue in this case, is the president’s insistence that he has authority to fire whomever he wants within the Executive branch, overriding any congressionally mandated law in his way. Luckily, the Framers, anticipating such a power grab, vested in Article III, not Article II, the power to interpret the law, including resolving conflicts about congressional checks on presidential authority. The president’s interpretation of the scope of his constitutional power — or, more aptly, his aspiration — is flat wrong.
“The president does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire plaintiff from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law.”
The Trump administration’s attempt to dismiss Wilcox represented an unprecedented action: the first time in the 90-year history of the NLRB that a U.S. president attempted to remove one of the board’s members.
Although Wilcox has been reinstated at the NLRB, ongoing legal challenges initiated by the Trump administration may lead to this case being ultimately reviewed by the Supreme Court.