Sept 9 (Reuters) - A federal judge in Detroit on Monday

said an auto parts manufacturer is likely to lose its lawsuit

challenging the structure of the National Labor Relations Board

and refused to block the board's administrative case against the

company from moving forward.

U.S. District Judge Laurie Michelson ruled that U.S. Supreme

Court precedent from nearly a century ago foreclosed Yapp USA

Automotive System's claims that the board's administrative law

judges and its five members are improperly shielded from at-will

removal by the president.

Michelson, an appointee of Democratic former President

Barack Obama, also said the board's ability to order employers

to compensate workers subjected to illegal labor practices does

not violate the right to a jury trial granted by the Seventh

Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Michelson denied Yapp's motion to block a board case from

moving forward in which the company is accused of firing a union

supporter and engaging in other unlawful conduct in the time

leading up to a 2023 union election at its factory in Romulus,

Michigan.

An NLRB spokeswoman declined to comment.

A lawyer for Tennessee-based Yapp did not immediately

respond to a request for comment. Shortly after Michelson issued

her ruling, the company filed a notice of appeal and asked the

judge to stay the board's administrative case pending the

outcome of the appeal.

At least 20 other companies, including Elon Musk's rocket

maker SpaceX, Starbucks ( SBUX ), Amazon ( AMZN ), Trader Joe's and Macy's, are

challenging the NLRB's structure or its enforcement powers in

pending lawsuits and administrative cases.

Michelson's ruling creates a split with two judges in Texas

who in July said there was merit to similar claims against the

NLRB brought by SpaceX and pipeline operator Energy Transfer ( ET ).

Those judges, who are both appointees of Republican former

President Donald Trump, said they were bound by a 2022 5th U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Jarkesy v. U.S. Securities

and Exchange Commission that said SEC administrative judges were

unconstitutionally insulated from removal. The U.S. Supreme

Court affirmed the Jarkesy ruling on other grounds in June and

did not reach the issue of restrictions on removal.

But the Ohio-based 6th Circuit, which covers Michigan, in a

separate 2022 case upheld removal protections for administrative

judges with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Michelson on Monday said that the ruling made clear that

administrative judges can be shielded from at-will removal if

they only make non-final recommendations to agencies rather than

issuing final, binding decisions.

"NLRB ALJs fit comfortably within that description," she

wrote.

Michelson also cited a 1935 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in

Humphrey's Executor v. United States that said removal

restrictions for members of the Federal Trade Commission were

constitutional. The Supreme Court is currently considering a

petition asking it to overrule Humphrey's Executor in a case

involving the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The case is Yapp USA Automotive Systems v. NLRB, U.S.

District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, No.

2:24-cv-12173.

For Yapp: R. Michael Azzi of Warner Norcross & Judd

For the NLRB: Michael Dale

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