Gilbert Placeres is a student at Harvard Law School.
In today’s News & Commentary, two reversals in the Trump administration’s firing of federal labor employees as a judge orders the reinstatement of NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox and the Department of Labor reinstates about 120 employees who were facing termination.
On Thursday, a federal district court judge ordered the reinstatement of NLRB Board Member Gwynne Wilcox, whom President Trump had fired in the first day of his second term. Divya covered the oral arguments in the case last week. In her ruling, Judge Beryl Howell wrote that “the President does not have the authority to terminate members of the National Labor Relations Board at will, and his attempt to fire [Wilcox] from her position on the Board was a blatant violation of the law,” as well as that “an American president is not a king.” The Trump administration has already filed an appeal in the case.
The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) announced Friday that about 120 probationary employees in the Department of Labor had been reinstated immediately and told to report back to duty on Monday. The Labor Department employees were reinstated a day after U.S. President Donald Trump told his cabinet members that they, not Elon Musk, had the final say on staffing and policy at their agencies. He also told cabinet members to approach workforce cuts with a “scalpel” instead of a “hatchet.”
Daily News & Commentary
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July 15
The Department of Labor announces new guidance around Occupational Safety and Health Administration penalty and debt collection procedures; a Cornell University graduate student challenges graduate student employee-status under the National Labor Relations Act; the Supreme Court clears the way for the Trump administration to move forward with a significant staff reduction at the Department of Education.
July 14
More circuits weigh in on two-step certification; Uber challengers Seattle deactivation ordinance.
July 13
APWU and USPS ratify a new contract, ICE barred from racial profiling in Los Angeles, and the fight continues over the dismantling of NIOSH
July 11
Regional director orders election without Board quorum; 9th Circuit pauses injunction on Executive Order; Driverless car legislation in Massachusetts
July 10
Wisconsin Supreme Court holds UW Health nurses are not covered by Wisconsin’s Labor Peace Act; a district judge denies the request to stay an injunction pending appeal; the NFLPA appeals an arbitration decision.
July 9
the Supreme Court allows Trump to proceed with mass firings; Secretary of Agriculture suggests Medicaid recipients replace deported migrant farmworkers; DHS ends TPS for Nicaragua and Honduras