A member of the National Labor Relations Board who was fired by President Donald Trump returned to the office to cheers on Monday after a judge ordered her reinstatement at the workers rights agency.
Employees at the NLRB’s headquarters in Southeast Washington lined the sidewalk as Gwynne Wilcox showed up for her first day at work since Jan. 27, when Trump removed her from office and eliminated the board’s quorum. They held signs that said “Welcome Back Gwynne” and “We Need The NLRB.”
Wilcox’s firing had left the board with only two members — one Democrat and one Republican — rendering it unable to issue decisions in cases. The NLRB enforces collective-bargaining rights for workers, so the gridlock was a boon to employers looking to stall organizing efforts or dodge union-busting charges.
Addressing the crowd Monday, Wilcox said she didn’t sleep the night Trump fired her because she was “so stunned and disappointed.” She said the board lacking a quorum left workers unprotected.
“If we can’t function … there are people who are waiting every day for our decision,” she said. “So for every day that a decision is not issued, we are really not doing our jobs.”
No president had ever fired a sitting board member, as the law clearly states members can only be removed for “neglect of duty” or “malfeasance,” and must first be given “notice and hearing.” Wilcox’s term was supposed to run through August 2028.
But Trump has fired a slew of officials at independent bodies like the NLRB in an effort to expand presidential power and take unprecedented control of federal agencies.
Wilcox filed a lawsuit seeking reinstatement, arguing her removal was unlawful. Judge Beryl A. Howell agreed with Wilcox, issuing an order last Thursday ensuring her temporary return to the agency as the underlying case moves forward.
In a stinging opinion, Howell wrote that Trump failed to grasp the Constitution’s limits on executive power.
“A President who touts an image of himself as a ‘king’ or a ‘dictator,’ perhaps as his vision of effective leadership, fundamentally misapprehends the role under Article II of the U.S. Constitution,” she wrote.
NLRB members serve staggered five-year terms, and the president can nominate new members as seats open up, ensuring its composition changes under Democratic and Republican administrations. The board is expected to become more employer-friendly under Trump, after years of more union-friendly policies under former President Joe Biden.
Trump’s removal of Wilcox stunned many close observers of the board, since he could have secured a GOP majority without carrying out a legally dubious firing. The board normally has five members but two seats were vacant; Trump could have simply nominated two Republicans to be considered by the GOP-controlled Senate, likely securing a 3-2 majority.
Wilcox told HuffPost on Monday that she was eager to get back to work. Like some other civil servants who were fired by the Trump administration and then rehired, Wilcox had some administrative onboarding to go through. She was already back on her work email but wasn’t sure if she would have a laptop lined up for Monday.
She said it was strange to feel like “a public figure” due to the firing and the fight for her job.
“It was really important to publicize what was happening and why I filed this case,” she said. “Even though it might have been a little uncomfortable for me, I needed to do it.”
Go Ad-Free — And Protect The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
Wilcox said that after news broke last week of the judge’s order reinstating her, she received a handwritten note from a neighbor she hadn’t spoken to in a while.
“It simply said, ‘The president is not king.’”