Gwynne Wilcox is a union-side labor lawyer who was previously a member of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) under the Biden Administration. Prior to this, she was a former partner at the law firm of  Levy Ratner. ¹

Career

Gwynne Wilcox earned a BA from Syracuse University and a JD from Rutgers University School of Law–Newark. ²

Wilcox worked as a field attorney at Region 2 of the National Labor Relations Board in New York. ³

Wilcox became a partner at the law firm, Levy Ratner, which specializes in representing unions before the NLRB. She is currently the associate general counsel of 1199SEIU-United Healthcare Workers East. At Levy Ratner, Wilcox helped organize and promote labor protests which would eventually form the Fight for $15 movement. ⁴

Wilcox was a labor representative at the New York City Office of Collective Bargaining, the city’s equivalent of the National Labor Relations Board. ²

Wilcox has been an executive committee board member of the Workers Defense League, a board member at the Peggy Browning Fund, a union member of the Council of the American Bar Association Labor and Employment Law Section, an advisory board member of the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution of the Cornell University ILR School and the New York City Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA). ²

Wilcox was a board member of Brandworkers International, a left-wing food worker organizing group. In 2015, Brandworkers gave Wilcox the Champions of Economic Justice Award. ²

Wilcox was previously a board member of the AFL‑CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee. ²

Wilcox has taught classes at the CUNY Murphy Institute and the Cornell ILR School. ²

In 2013, Wilcox was editor-in-chief of the Supplement to the American Bar Association/Bloomberg BNA Treatise. ²

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)

On May 27, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Gwynne Wilcox to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to a seat that had been vacated since 2018. ¹

In 2021, Wilcox and her former law firm Levy Ratner were involved in a legal struggle between union groups (including Fight for $15) and fast food business McDonald’s over “joint-employer” regulations set by the NLRB. Levy Ratner previously argued that McDonalds qualifies as a joint-employer with its independently owned and operated franchises, thereby making McDonald’s liable for labor violations directly committed by its franchises. ⁵

In 2018, the Republican-majority board rejected President Obama-era rulings and reinstated a narrower application of joint-employer designations which largely absolved McDonald’s. However, a dispute over board member Bill Emanuel having previously represented management in Browning-Ferris, a joint-employer case which led to the Obama-era ruling, led to members of Congress demanding the decision overriding Browning-Ferris be withdrawn. ⁵

1. “President Biden Nominates Union-Side Attorney Gwynne Wilcox to the NLRB.” National Law Review. May 28, 2021. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://www.natlawreview.com/article/president-biden-nominates-union-side-attorney-gwynne-wilcox-to-nlrb
2. “Gwynne A. Wilcox.” Levy Ratner. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://levyratner.com/gwynne-wilcox/.
3. “Gwynne A. Wilcox Esq.” Bloomberg Law. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://authors.bloomberglaw.com/wilcox-gwynne-m17179895161/.
4. “Fight for $15.” Levy Ratner. November 16, 2019. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://levyratner.com/fight-for-15/.
5. Binford, Tammy. “NLRB Nominee’s History May Complicate Joint-Employment Case.” HR Daily Advisor. June 3, 2021. Accessed June 15, 2021. https://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2021/06/03/nlrb-nominees-history-may-complicate-joint-employment-cases/.