President Trump Nominates Crystal Carey as NLRB General Counsel

April 3, 2025

What's New

On March 24, President Trump nominated Crystal Carey to serve as the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. If the Senate confirms her, Carey will take over for Acting General Counsel William B. Cowen, whom President Trump appointed on February 3.

In the short time since, Acting General Counsel Cowen has swiftly implemented policy changes by rescinding numerous memoranda issued by former General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a Democrat. The rescinded memos addressed the electronic monitoring of employees, severance agreements, and non-compete agreements.

Ms. Carey currently is a partner at a management-side labor and employment law firm, but she previously spent eight years at the NLRB as an attorney.

What It Means

The media focus has been on the firing of NLRB Member Gwynne Wilcox and the NLRB’s lack of a quorum, but it is important to remember that the General Counsel exerts considerable influence on NLRB policy by determining which unfair labor practice charges to prosecute and which litigation strategy to use. If confirmed, Ms. Carey likely will continue moving the General Counsel’s priorities away from those favored by organized labor.

What You Should Do

CWC will continue to report on developments at the NLRB. Members can follow the progress of nominees here and discuss this topic with CWC staff and other members at one of our Conversation Corners.

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