Gwynne Wilcox acknowledged the lawsuit was the “test case” the president was likely looking for following the series of unprecedented firings.

Dive Brief:

  • Former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) member Gwynne Wilcox has filed a lawsuit against President Donald Trump and Board Chair Marvin Kaplan, calling her firing a “blatant violation of the National Labor Relations Act” (Wilcox v. Trump).  
  • According to the NLRA, the president may only remove board members in cases of “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause,” and only after “notice and hearing.” Trump made no effort to identify neglect or duty or malfeasance, and there was no notice or hearing, the complaint alleges.  
  • The lawsuit, which was widely anticipated, is the first to challenge Trump’s unprecedented firings of congressionally approved members of independent agencies. 

Dive Insight:

Wilcox acknowledged the lawsuit was the “test case” the president was likely looking for following the series of unprecedented firings, but said she “is also cognizant of the fact that, if no challenge is made, the President will have effectively succeeded in rendering the NLRA’s protections — and, by extension, that of other independent agencies — nugatory.”

Two commissioners of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Charlotte Burrows and Jocelyn Samuels, were also removed by Trump in recent weeks, in a similar move affecting agencies that enforce federal workplace protections. Burrows and Samuels have both hinted they would pursue legal action. 

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which established the EEOC, does not address commissioner removals; however, according to law firm Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs, “It has historically been understood that commissioner removal requires cause (negligence, malfeasance, or some other justification for removal).

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Source : https://www.hrdive.com/news/nlrb-member-removed-by-trump-files-lawsuit/739476/