Trump Fires Democratic Member of Federal Staff Appeals Board (1)

President Donald Trump fired Cathy Harris, a Democrat and member of the appeals board for terminated federal workers, and stripped another member of his vice-chair position.

The Merit Systems Protection Board received notice of Harris’s termination on Monday evening, agency spokesperson William Spencer said Tuesday. Trump also removed Democrat Ray Limon’s vice-chair title, but left him on the board. His term expires on March 1.

The MSPB firing adds to a running tally of independent agency leaders axed by the president—with some already bringing a legal challenge, like fired National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox.

Although Trump’s move leaves the three-person MSPB with a two-member quorum, it is now idealogically deadlocked at a time when the president has launched a blitzkrieg to shrink the federal workforce.

The agency is responsible for hearing appeals on worker firings and other disciplinary actions. Worker advocates view it as crucial in the opposition to Trump’s attempts to lay off or terminate civil servants.

Harris previously served as MSPB chair until she was replaced by Republican Henry Kerner on Jan. 21. She was nearly three years into a seven-year term on the board, with her post set to expire in 2028.

The agency has a contingency plan if it does lose its quorum going forward. It altered its regulations in 2024 to give it more flexibility and allow a lone board member to carry out certain functions like finalizing settlements.

The agency last operated without a quorum between 2017 and 2022, rendering it practically inert and creating a backlog of over 3,700 appeals.

Spencer declined to provide further comment.