Cathy Harris had sued to block her dismissal from the panel that handles government employee disputes. Employees swept up in the Trump administration’s mass firings have appealed to the board.

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked Republican U.S. President Donald Trump from firing the Democratic chair of a U.S. agency that hears appeals by federal government employees when they are fired or disciplined.

Two US judges have ordered several federal government agencies to reinstate the jobs of probationary employees fired en masse by the Trump administration last month. In California, District Judge William Alsup called the sacking of these employees part of a "sham" strategy that aimed to circumvent proper procedures for reducing the federal workforce.