Trump Moves to Fire Members of EEOC and NLRB, Braking With Precedent

President Donald Trump has moved to fire Democratic members of two independent federal commissions, a remarkable break from decades of legal precedent that guarantees to hand Republicans manage over boards that supervise swaths of U.S. employees, employers and labor unions.

On Monday night, he dismissed two of the 3 Democrats on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – Jocelyn Samuels and Charlotte Burrows, previously the chair, the White House confirmed Tuesday. He also fired the chair of the National Labor Relations Board, job Gwynne Wilcox, a Democrat, an NLRB spokesperson validated Tuesday.

All 3 said they are exploring their legal options against the administration – cases that legal scholars state could reach as far as the Supreme Court.

Trump also removed the EEOC’s general counsel, Karla Gilbride, who supervise civil actions against companies on a variety of issues, claims from LGBTQ+ and pregnant employees. And he terminated Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB’s basic counsel. Their departures throw into question the status of numerous actions underway at both agencies, consisting of against billionaire Elon Musk’s electrical car business, job Tesla.

“These were far-left appointees with radical records of overthrowing long-standing labor law, and they have no location as senior appointees in the Trump administration, which was offered a mandate by the American people to undo the radical policies they developed,” a White House authorities stated, job speaking on the condition of anonymity under guideline set by the administration.

In statements issued Tuesday, Burrows and Samuels both called their removals “extraordinary.”

“Removing me from my position before the expiration of my Congressionally directed term is unmatched, breaches the law, and represents a fundamental misconception of the nature of the EEOC as an independent agency – one that is not controlled by a single Cabinet secretary but runs as a multimember body whose differing views are baked into the Commission’s design,” Samuels composed.

In dismissing her, she added, the White House critiqued her views on sex discrimination, diversity, equity and job inclusion (DEI) programs, and availability problems. She stated the criticism misunderstood “the fundamental concepts of equivalent job opportunity.”

Burrows wrote that her removal “will weaken the efforts of this independent firm to do the crucial work of safeguarding workers from discrimination, supporting companies’ compliance efforts, and broadening public awareness and understanding of federal work laws.”

Wilcox, the NLRB member, wrote in a declaration that she will pursue “all legal opportunities to challenge my elimination, which breaches enduring Supreme Court precedent.”

The removal of basic counsels is not without precedent: President Joe Biden fired Trump-appointed general counsels at the EEOC and NLRB upon entering workplace in 2021. Yet dismissing members of independent commissions represents a dramatic break from Supreme Court precedent dating to 1935, which holds that the president can not eliminate members of independent companies such as the EEOC except in cases of overlook of task, impropriety or inadequacy.

Trump’s actions leave both five-member boards without enough members to carry out service. The boards now have just 2 members; Trump should fill the vacancies and await Senate approval.

Legal experts were troubled by Trump’s relocation.

There are “concerns that this is the primary step towards erosion of workplace protections versus discrimination in the work environment,” stated Kevin Owen, an employment attorney in Maryland focusing on federal employees.

“This may herald completion of the EEOC as we know it.”

Trump has upheld an expansive view of executive power and campaigned on seizing more control over agencies that typically ran mostly independent of the White House, including the EEOC and NLRB. His maneuvers likewise call into concern whether he will take comparable actions at other independent agencies.

“I will bring the independent regulatory firms such as the [Federal Communications Commission] and the [Federal Trade Commission] back under governmental authority as the Constitution demands,” Trump composed on his social media platform, Truth Social, in April 2023. “These companies do not get to become a 4th branch of federal government, providing guidelines and edicts all on their own, and that’s what they’ve been doing.”

Taking control of the firms might permit Trump to more strongly pursue his agenda.

The dismissal of the two Democratic EEOC commissioners – Samuels and Burrows – permits Trump to replace them with Republicans and job offer the five-member commission a conservative majority. One seat was uninhabited before the dismissals.

Recently, Trump designated Andrea Lucas, the board’s only Republican, as acting chair. With a GOP bulk, job Lucas would be able to more easily pursue her top priorities, which include “rooting out unlawful DEI-motivated race and sex discrimination” and “safeguarding the biological and binary truth of sex.” The EEOC has the power to open examinations and pursue civil charges versus employers it declares have violated federal laws disallowing workplace discrimination.

Trump’s shooting of the NLRB’s Wilcox imperils long-standing union rights in the United States implemented by the NLRB, legal professionals said.

“This has the possible to lead to judgments that either alter the method the [labor] board is structured or perhaps restrict the board’s capability to work moving forward,” stated Kate Andrias, a professor at Columbia Law School.

The NLRB – which supervises unionization votes by workers and adjudicates accusations of unlawful union busting – has faced a flurry of legal challenges to its constitutionality, brought last year by SpaceX, Amazon and other high-profile business, emboldened by a conservative Supreme Court. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Those cases are gradually overcoming the federal court system. But legal experts say Wilcox’s shooting could move the issue to the high court quicker.

“The Trump administration together with the architects of Project 2025 are intending to do away with the National Labor Relations Act,” stated Seth Goldstein, a labor lawyer who has actually represented Amazon and Trader Joe’s employees. He referred to the 1935 law that developed the NLRB and contemporary union rights. “They want to end worker rights and return us to the Gilded Age,” he said.