President Trump Removes NLRB General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, and Member, Gwynne Wilcox

At a Glance

• President Trump’s decision to remove Wilcox is an unprecedented move that could hamper the Board and draw swift legal challenges to test the longstanding removal protections recognized by the Supreme Court for independent federal agency heads in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States in 1935.
• President Trump’s decision to remove Wilcox leaves the Board with only two members, creating a third vacancy on the five-member Board. The Supreme Court in New Process Steel LP v. NLRB held that absent its three-member quorum the Board cannot execute its duties.
• These developments are sure to have a direct and immediate impact on federal labor law and labor-management relations, to which employers should be mindful to pay close attention in this rapidly changing landscape.

On the heels of his firing of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, Pres. Donald Trump also removed Board Member Gwynne Wilcox on January 27, 2025. 

While the removal of Abruzzo mirrors Pres. Joe Biden’s decision to remove then-General Counsel Peter Robb shortly after being sworn into office in 2021, President Trump’s decision to remove Wilcox is an unprecedented move that could hamper the Board and draw swift legal challenges to test the longstanding removal protections recognized by the Supreme Court for independent federal agency heads in Humphrey’s Executor v. United States in 1935. 

Whether that protection explicitly extends to members of the NLRB has yet to be decided. In the wake of the Biden Board’s aggressive pro-employee agenda, employers have advanced similar challenges in the Second and Fifth Circuits concerning the constitutionality of the NLRB’s authority, composition, and removal protections for Board members and the NLRB’s administrative law judges. A D.C. District Court judge has already found those administrative law judge removal protections unconstitutional. President Trump’s decision to remove Wilcox now further sets the stage for Supreme Court review of this 90-year-old doctrine — particularly since Wilcox has already indicated she intends to challenge her removal. 

Of more immediate concern, President Trump’s decision to remove Wilcox leaves the Board with only two members — Republican Chair Marvin Kaplan and Democratic Member David Prouty — and creates a third vacancy on the five-member Board. With only two members, the Board now lacks its required three-member quorum. The Supreme Court in New Process Steel LP v. NLRB held that absent this three-member quorum the Board cannot execute its duties, which include deciding appeals of administrative law judge decisions in unfair labor practice cases, reviewing challenges to representation election results, and issuing new rules or regulations.

These developments are sure to have a direct and immediate impact on federal labor law and labor-management relations, to which employers should be mindful to pay close attention in this rapidly changing landscape.