Gwynne Wilcox
Gwynne A. Wilcox is an American attorney who has served on the National Labor Relations Board.
Early life and education
Wilcox obtained a Bachelor of Arts from Syracuse University and a Juris Doctor from the Rutgers Law School.Career
Wilcox is a fellow of the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. She is also a member of the Labor and Employment Law sections of both the American Bar Association and New York State Bar Association. She is a partner at Levy Ratner, P.C, an employment law firm that deals with unions. Part of Wilcox's work is to represent unions before the NLRB.NLRB
On May 26, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Wilcox to be a member of the National Labor Relations Board. The Senate HELP Committee held hearings on her nomination on July 15, 2021. On July 21, 2021, the committee favorably reported her nomination to the Senate floor. Wilcox was confirmed by the entire Senate on July 28, 2021, by a roll call vote of 52–47. She was sworn into her position on August 4, 2021. With the appointment, Wilcox became the first Black woman to be a member of the NLRB.On June 2, 2023, President Biden nominated Wilcox for a second term on the board. Her nomination was favorably reported by the Senate's HELP committee on July 12, 2023, and confirmed by the full Senate on September 6, 2023. Her seat was briefly vacant as her initial term expired on August 27, 2023. She was designated chair in December 2024 after the term of former chair Lauren McFerran expired.
Dismissal by Donald Trump
President Donald Trump dismissed Wilcox from the NLRB on January 27, 2025, though her term was supposed to last into August 2028. Trump's firing of Wilcox and Jennifer Abruzzo is reported to have paralyzed the Board, which now lacks the three-member quorum it needs to decide cases that come before it.The US Supreme Court holding Morrison v. Olson states that Congress provides tenure protections to certain inferior officers with narrowly defined duties, like the NLRB, from being fired except for cause. Her spokesperson said her firing violated "long-standing Supreme Court precedent" and that she would take "legal avenues" to challenge her removal. Wilcox's firing also explicitly contradicted a federal statute which provides that members of the NLRB "may be removed by the President, upon notice and hearing, for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause." On February 5, Wilcox filed suit against Trump and NLRB chair Marvin Kaplan in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. On March 6, Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Trump's action violated the National Labor Relations Act, and that Wilcox “remains a member of the National Labor Relations Board”. However, on March 28, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the termination could take effect while the lawsuit proceeded.
On April 7, the full Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit voted 7-4 to once again block the termination. However, on April 9, in response to an emergency appeal from the Trump Administration, Chief Justice John Roberts of the United States Supreme Court issued a stay on that decision.