An administrative-law judge in Alabama has ruled that the State Board of Education violated the state’s Fair Dismissal Act when it dismissed Susan E. Salatto as president of Southern Union State Community College, the Associated Press reported.

The ruling, released on Tuesday, rescinded her firing, saying that Ms. Salatto had been denied a hearing to which she was entitled. The board had dismissed her in January, two weeks after the chancellor of the two-year-college system placed her on leave.

The chancellor, Bradley Byrne, said in a written statement on Tuesday that he believed the ruling was wrong and that college presidents were not covered by the law. A spokeswoman for the the college system said the system would ask a state circuit judge to overturn the administrative judge’s ruling. —Charles Huckabee