President Biden Nominates Ex-SEIU Attorney to Serve Another Term on NLRB
Nomination to serve another term renews potential conflict-of-interest arguments.
On Friday, the White House announced that President Biden would be re-nominating NLRB member Gwynne A. Wilcox to serve another term on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
As with prior instances of potential conflicts of interest, Wilcox’s previous work as a union attorney, including general counsel of SEIU 32BJ, associate general counsel of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, as well as work on behalf of SEIU’s Fight for $15 campaign, has caused calls for at least one investigation into Wilcox’s conflict of interest in ruling on certain cases involving her old union employer and client.
In one particular case, the National Right to Work Foundation—which represents employees—submitted a letter to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Inspector General (IG) and NLRB’s chief ethics officer, urging them to remove NLRB members David Prouty and Gwynne Wilcox from involvement in a SEIU lawsuit against the NLRB over “joint employer” standards.
Given Wilcox and Prouty’s “recent roles as lawyers advising large locals affiliated with the Service Employees International Union (‘SEIU’),’” the Foundation’s letter stated, “both Member Prouty and Member Wilcox have significant conflicts of interest with respect to the Litigation and with regard to the Joint-Employer rule that SEIU challenges in the Litigation.”
Although Wilcox eventually removed herself in that case, NLRB member and former SEIU attorney David Prouty refused.
Gwynne A. Wilcox has served as a Member of the NLRB since August 4, 2021 with her term ending on August 27, 2023. She is the first Black woman to serve on the Board since its inception in 1935. Wilcox is also the first Board Member to be sworn-in both with English and Spanish as the agency strives to be more inclusive, welcoming, and accessible for all its workers. In November 2021, Wilcox was presented with the Honorable Bernice B. Donald Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Profession Award by the ABA’s Labor and Employment Law Section. The award is given to a member, law firm, corporation, organization or academic institution “that has demonstrated leadership in and commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the legal profession.”
Before joining the Board, Wilcox was a senior partner at Levy Ratner, P.C., a New York City labor and employment law firm. While there, she served as Associate General Counsel of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and as a labor representative to the NYC Office of Collective Bargaining. Prior to joining Levy Ratner, she worked as a Field Attorney at Region 2 of the NLRB in New York City. Wilcox holds a J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law-Newark, a B.A. from Syracuse University, and is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers.
Given that the U.S. Senate must reconfirm Ms. Wilcox to the NLRB and there are at least two Democrats who do not always vote in “lockstep” with the President, Ms. Wilcox’s confirmation process may not be as smooth as it was in 2021.