Timeline of Notable NLRB Events During Trump's Second Term

Archiving everything that happens under the second Trump NLRB.

This post will be constantly updated between January 2025 and January 2029 with the events that I consider notable. This includes changes in key personnel, legal precedent, and so on.

1. January 20, 2025: Trump named Republican Marvin Kaplan the Chair of the NLRB.
   Kaplan was already one of the three current members of the NLRB. Democrats Gwynne Wilcox and David Prouty were the other current members and two Board seats were vacant. This move did not change the composition of the NLRB, but did transfer the Chair from Wilcox to Kaplan.

2. January 28, 2025: Trump fired General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo.
   Abruzzo was appointed by the Biden administration and helped move NLRB case law in a worker-friendly direction. Abruzzo was replaced with Acting General Counsel Jessica Rutter. Read the letter firing Abruzzo here.

3. January 28, 2025: Trump fired Democratic Board Member Gwynne Wilcox.
   Trump’s firing violated the NLRA’s requirement that removal of Board members be only for neglect of duty or malfeasance, setting up a constitutional challenge. The firing also deprived the NLRB of a quorum and made it unable to issue decisions. Read the letter firing Wilcox here.

4. February 1, 2025: Trump fired Acting General Counsel Jessica Rutter.
   Rutter replaced General Counsel Abruzzo when she was fired on January 28.

5. February 3, 2025: Trump appointed William Cowen as Acting General Counsel.
   Cowen is a conservative and therefore a more natural choice for Trump than Rutter was.

6. February 14, 2025: Acting GC William Cowen rescinded a long list of Biden-era guidance. The categories of guidance that were rescinded indicate that the new administration will refrain from treating college athletes as employees and from prosecuting employers for maintaining non-compete agreements, stay-or-pay rules, and training repayment assistant provisions. The rescissions also indicate that the new administration will attempt to overturn Board precedent that prohibits captive-audience meetings (Amazon.com Services) and confidentiality/non-disparagement clauses in severance agreements (McLaren Macomb) as well as Board precedent that provides for bargaining orders (Cemex) and expanded monetary remedies for victims of unfair labor practices (Thryv).

7. March 6, 2025: DC District Court ruled Member Gwynne Wilcox was illegally fired and reinstates her. The court held that President Trump’s firing of Wilcox on January 28, 2025 violated the NLRA requirement that Board Members only be fired for neglect of duty or malfeasance. Trump’s letter firing Wilcox indicated he intends to make a constitutional challenge to the NLRA’s removal protections and thus will likely appeal the decision to the D.C. Circuit and then the Supreme Court.

8. March 10-11, 2025: Member Gwynne Wilcox returned to work. Pursuant to the DC District Court ruling on March 6, 2026, Wilcox returned to her position as Board member on March 10, 2025. Her return brought the number of Board members to three, giving it a quorum to start issuing decisions again. The Board issued no decisions between January 28 and March 10. The first decisions after Wilcox’s reinstatement were issued on March 11, 2025. These decisions contain a footnote stating that the legality of Wilcox’s role is being contested in court. If the Supreme Court eventually decides that Trump had the right to fire Wilcox, then these decisions will be invalidated.

9. March 28, 2025: DC Circuit Court removed Member Gwynne Wilcox during pending legal challenge. The DC Circuit Court granted the Trump administration’s emergency motion for a stay of the district court decision reinstating Wilcox, in effect firing Wilcox again for at least the duration of the Trump administration’s appeal of the lower court order. As a result, the NLRB lost its quorum to make decisions once again.

10. April 7, 2025: DC Circuit Court reinstated Member Gwynne Wilcox during pending legal challenge. The DC Circuit Court vacated the March 28 order that removed Wilcox during the pending legal challenge. The prior order was issued by a three-member panel of the DC Circuit Court while this order was issued en banc. As a result, the NLRB regained its quorum to make decisions once again.

11. April 9, 2025: Supreme Court removed Member Gwynne Wilcox during pending legal challenge. The Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s motion for a stay of the district court decision reinstating Wilcox, in effect firing Wilcox again for at least the duration of the Trump administration’s appeal of the lower court order. A three-member panel of DC Circuit had granted the motion for a stay on March 28, but this was reversed by the entire DC Circuit on April 7. The Supreme Court stepped in to essentially reverse that reversal. As a result, the NLRB lost its quorum to make decisions once again.