Federal Judge Reinstates Illegally Fired NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox

A federal judge ruled Thursday that President Trump acted illegally when he fired Gwynne Wilcox from the National Labor Relations Board, and ordered that she be allowed to remain on the job. In making her decision, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell found that the President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and that his attempt to fire Wilcox from her position on the Board was "a blatant violation of the law."

“An American president is not a king — not even an ‘elected’ one — and his power to remove federal officers and honest civil servants like plaintiff is not absolute,” she wrote.

“We commend the court’s decision to uphold the integrity and independence of the NLRB, an agency that upholds workers’ freedom to form a union," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. "More than a month after Trump effectively shut down the NLRB by illegally firing Gwynne Wilcox, denying it the quorum it needs to hold union-busters accountable, the court ordered Wilcox immediately returned to her seat, allowing the NLRB to get back to its essential work. The court also sent an important message that a president cannot undermine an independent agency by simply removing a member of the board because he disagrees with her decisions. Working people around the country count on equal justice and fair decision-making from an independent NLRB—and today, because of Wilcox’s commitment to the mission of the NLRB and her refusal to stand by as Trump illegally removed her from the board, the NLRB can get back to work.” Read more from The Guardian.