By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday said President Donald Trump’s firing of a Democratic member of the National Labor Relations Board was illegal and ordered that she be reinstated to her post.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., restores a quorum of three members at the labor board, which had been paralyzed and unable to decide cases involving private-sector employers after Trump removed Gwynne Wilcox in January.
Wilcox claimed that Trump violated a requirement in federal labor law that NLRB members only be removed for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” The Trump administration acknowledged violating the law, but said the protections from removal for board members were unconstitutional.
The NLRB, which has five members when fully stocked, enforces laws protecting private-sector workers’ rights to organize, join unions and advocate for better working conditions.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and David Gregorio)
Comments