Ex-US labor board chair removed by Trump drops lawsuit over firing

By Daniel Wiessner

Jan 21 (Reuters) - Susan Grundmann, the former chair of the U.S. Federal Labor Relations Authority, on Wednesday dropped a lawsuit claiming President Donald Trump illegally removed her from her post without cause after he took office last year.

Grundmann moved to dismiss her lawsuit in District of Columbia federal court after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit last month upheld Trump's firing of Democratic members from two other labor boards, which raised the same legal issues.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule the same way in a case involving Trump's removal of a Federal Trade Commission member, which would likely upend the long-held independence that dozens of federal agencies have had from the White House.

U.S. District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan last March ruled that Grundmann's removal was illegal and reinstated her, but the D.C. Circuit in July paused that decision pending an appeal by the Trump administration.

Grundmann in a statement said she had accomplished both of her goals in bringing the case: "to vindicate the independence of the FLRA as Congress designed it and to provide service to the parties who appear before it."

The FLRA hears disputes between federal agencies and their employees' unions. It can order agencies to bargain with unions and in some cases prevent them from firing unionized workers.

The U.S. Senate last month confirmed Trump nominee Charles Arrington, a Navy veteran and longtime government lawyer, to the seat that was held by Grundmann, giving Republicans a 2-1 majority.

Trump did not provide a reason for firing Grundmann, an appointee of Democratic former President Joe Biden, according to court filings. Grundmann claimed in her lawsuit that Trump violated a federal labor relations law that says FLRA members may only be removed "for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office."

Sooknanan last year rejected the Trump administration's claims that those protections were unconstitutional. The D.C. Circuit last month disagreed, ruling that federal agencies that wield substantial executive power must be directly accountable to the president.

The case is Grundmann v. Trump, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:25-cv-00425.

For Grundmann: Norman Eisen; Pooja Chaudhuri of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Jon Greenbaum of Justice Legal Strategies

For the government: Alexander Resar of the U.S. Department of Justice

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