(Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday ordered a Democrat who served as the chair of a U.S. agency that hears appeals by federal government employees when they are fired or disciplined to be temporarily reinstated after Republican U.S. President Donald Trump fired her.

U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from removing Cathy Harris from her position on the Merit Systems Protection Board while he considers her lawsuit alleging that her removal was unlawful.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leslie Adler)