Embattled Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned Monday amid a series of scandals and allegations of a toxic workplace, the third member of President Trump’s Cabinet to leave in two months.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung confirmed her departure, saying Ms. Chavez-DeRemer is leaving “to take a position in the private sector.”
“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,” Mr. Cheung said in a statement.
Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling will take on the role of Acting Secretary of Labor.
Ms.Chavez-DeRemer’s departure from the Labor Department comes just days after the agency’s watchdog launched an investigation into allegations that she, top aides and family members sent personal messages and requests to young staff members.
The requests, which came from Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s father and husband, asked staffers to run a variety of personal errands, according to The New York Times. In one text, she asked a staffer to bring a bottle of wine to her hotel room.
A few weeks before the report, at least three department employees lodged formal workplace discrimination complaints against Ms. Chavez-DeRemer, “alleging she created a toxic workplace and sought to retaliate against women who reported her husband for sexual misconduct in her office.”
Other accusations of misconduct that marred Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure at the Labor Department included allegations of using taxpayer funds for personal travel, having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job, which led to a separate investigation by the Labor Department’s inspector general.
At least four Labor Department employees had been removed from their jobs because of the investigations, including her chief of staff, deputy chief of staff and members of her security team.
She denied wrongdoing amid mounting accusations.
From left, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent …
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As the scandals piled up, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer was said to be on thin ice with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump last month fired Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem and, two weeks later, fired Attorney General Pam Bondi. The president had grown so frustrated with Ms. Chavez-DeRemer that he reportedly offered Ms. Bondi the Labor Secretary position upon her departure.
The White House and Labor Department at first denied Ms. Chavez-DeRemer had engaged in any wrongdoing and insisted her job was safe. But as more misconduct allegations came to light, the administration’s defense of her became more tepid.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in January that Ms. Chavez-DeRemer is doing a “tremendous job at the Department of Labor on behalf of American workers.”
Ms. Chavez-DeRemer is a former Republican congresswoman who represented a purple district in Oregon. Her pro-union stance while in the House earned her support from big labor, which is unusual for a Republican and seemed to contradict Mr. Trump’s pro-business philosophy.
The president was widely believed to have picked her as a way to reward union members who bucked their leadership to vote for him in the 2024 election.
During her time in Congress, she backed a bill that would make it easier for federal employees to unionize and another bill that would protect Social Security benefits for public sector workers.
As Labor Secretary, Ms. Chavez-DeRemer worked to repeal scores of workplace regulations, such as minimum wage requirements for home health care workers and rules governing safety at mines. Unions had condemned her efforts, saying it led to unsafe working conditions.
