In a late-night power move, former President Donald Trump fired Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) Chairwoman Susan Tsui Grundmann, prompting a lawsuit that challenges the legality of her sudden removal.
Filed Thursday in D.C. federal court, Grundmann’s suit accuses Trump and Colleen Duffy Kiko, whom he appointed as the new FLRA chair, of violating federal labor law by removing her without cause or due process.
Allegations of Unlawful Dismissal
Grundmann argues that the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute ensures the FLRA’s independence by limiting the president’s power to remove its members. According to the law, FLRA appointees can only be dismissed for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance, and even then, only after notice and a hearing—none of which she received.
“The president’s removal of plaintiff for no cause, much less any reasons relating to inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance, without notice and a hearing, and during an unexpired term, was in flagrant violation of the plain language of the statute,” Grundmann’s lawsuit states.
Appointed to the FLRA by President Joe Biden in 2022 and elevated to chair in 2023, Grundmann was supposed to serve until at least July 2024. Instead, she was dismissed via a one-sentence email at 10:46 p.m. on Monday.
