Donald Trump’s labor secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is stepping down, the administration announced Monday.
“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,” Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung wrote on social media. “She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives.”
Chavez-DeRemer is the third cabinet member to depart during the president’s second term, following homeland security secretary Kristi Noem and attorney general Pam Bondi. Her exit comes after she became entangled in a string of political and personal controversies.
The labor secretary and her close aides are currently under investigation by the department’s inspector general over allegations of professional misconduct.
These include claims that Chavez-DeRemer had an affair with a member of her security detail and used government resources for personal travel, while her aides allegedly sought to channel grants towards politically connected figures, the New York Times reported.
In addition, the secretary’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist, was barred from the department’s headquarters after allegations by at least two female staff members that he had sexually assaulted them. The women told department officials that Shawn DeRemer had touched them inappropriately at the department’s building on Constitution Avenue in Washington.
His lawyer rejected the claims, suggesting they form part of an effort to force his wife from office. Police and prosecutors declined to pursue charges. But the inspector general’s investigation was believed to be nearing its conclusion.
Chavez-DeRemer, the daughter of a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, was previously a Republican congresswoman from Oregon. She had support from trade unions in her district but lost her 2024 reelection bid after one term in office.
Her nomination by Trump was welcomed by unions sceptical of the president’s second term agenda for workers. In March last year the Senate confirmed Chavez-DeRemer 67-32 with more than a dozen Democrats joining Republicans in backing her.
The secretary’s page on the X social media platform has a pinned tweet that says: “President Trump is the most pro-Worker President in American History. Under his leadership, we’re entering a Golden Age of Economic Prosperity for our Nation’s Workers and Industry.”
But her tenure was troubled. In April it emerged that three senior women at the labour department had lodged civil rights complaints against Chavez-DeRemer.
A New York Times report earlier this year noted: “In interviews, more than two dozen current and former department employees from across the political spectrum described a toxic workplace characterized by an absentee secretary, hostile aides and a deeply demoralized staff.”
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