Labor & Employment Law Daily Wrap Up, LITIGATION NEWS, TRENDS—Ousted FLRA member Susan Grundmann latest to file suit challenging removal by Trump, (Feb 14, 2025)
Organizations Mentioned:Federal Labor Relations Authority
By Brandi O. Brown, J.D.
The Federal Labor Relations Authority is a nonpartisan, independent agency and its members, Grundmann contends, can only be removed “upon notice and hearing and only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
Susan Tsui Grundmann, who was appointed as a Member of the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) in 2022, to serve a five-year term that is not set to expire until July and who served as Chair of the FLRA, was told in a one-sentence email on February 10, 2025, that her position on the FLRA was “terminated, effective immediately.”
She has now sued, alleging that this termination violates the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute because, according to the plain language of that statute, she has a clear legal entitlement to retain her position. As stated in 5 U.S.C. § 7104(b), “Members of the Authority shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and may be removed by the President only upon notice and hearing and only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office.”
Grundmann alleges that her removal without such notice or hearing and without the identification of any neglect of duty or malfeasance is unlawful and “a clear attempt to contravene Congress’s statutory scheme.”
She seeks declaratory and injunctive relief.
The lawsuit was filed in D.C. federal court; the case is No. 1:25-cv-00425-SLS.
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