The Biden administration fired the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel Wednesday night, breaking with precedent to end the tenure of a figure seen as a foe by worker advocates and labor unions.
The fracas over Trump appointee Peter Robb's tenure unfolded just hours into Joe Biden's presidency.
The Biden administration first asked Robb to resign, a departure from the norm that presidents of both parties have followed to allow the general counsel to serve out the term. Robb's term was scheduled to be over in 10 months.
But Robb refused to step down.
In a letter to the White House, he called the request "unprecedented since the nascence of the National Labor Relations Act" and said his removal "would set an unfortunate precedent," according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post and first published by Law360.
Robb wrote that Biden's request, which came shortly after noon via email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, blindsided him.
"I respectfully decline to resign," Robb wrote.
Biden had told Robb he should step down by 5 p.m. or he would be fired, the White House said, news of which was first reported by Bloomberg Law. By 8:45 p.m., the general counsel position on the board's online organizational chart was listed as "vacant."
Robb did not respond to an emailed request for comment. A spokesman issued a statement Thursday confirming Robb's departure and announcing Alice Stock, who was Robb's deputy, as acting general counsel. Biden will now need to nominate a replacement, who must receive Senate confirmation.
Labor groups and Democrats celebrated Robb's dismissal.
"A union-busting lawyer by trade, Robb mounted an unrelenting attack for more than three years on workers' right to organize and engage in collective bargaining," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement.