Labor Secretary Leaving Trump Cabinet  04/21 06:28

   Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump's 
Cabinet, the White House said Monday, after multiple allegations of abusing her 
position's power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking 
alcohol on the job.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President 
Donald Trump's Cabinet, the White House said Monday, after multiple allegations 
of abusing her position's power, including having an affair with a subordinate 
and drinking alcohol on the job.

   Chavez-DeRemer is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave her post after 
Trump fired his embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in March and 
ousted Attorney General Pam Bondi earlier this month.

   In a statement posted on social media, Chavez-DeRemer praised Trump and 
wrote, "I am proud that we made significant progress in advancing President 
Trump's mission to bridge the gap between business and labor and always put the 
American worker first."

   Unlike other recent Cabinet departures, Chavez-DeRemer's exit was announced 
by a White House aide, not by the president on his social media account.

   "Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to 
take a position in the private sector," White House communications director 
Steven Cheung said on the social media site X. "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."

   He said Keith Sonderling, the current deputy labor secretary, would become 
acting labor secretary in her place. The news outlet NOTUS was the first to 
report Chavez-DeRemer's resignation.

   Labor chief, family members faced multiple allegations

   Chavez-DeRemer's departure follows reports that began surfacing in January 
that she was under a series of investigations.

   A New York Times report last Wednesday revealed that the Labor Department's 
inspector general was reviewing material showing Chavez-DeRemer and her top 
aides and family members routinely sent personal messages and requests to young 
staff members.

   Chavez-DeRemer's husband and father exchanged text messages with young 
female staff members, according to the newspaper. Some of the staffers were 
instructed by the secretary and her former deputy chief of staff to "pay 
attention" to her family, people familiar with the investigation told the Times.

   Those messages were uncovered as part of a broader investigation of 
Chavez-DeRemer's leadership that began after the New York Post reported in 
January that a complaint filed with the Labor Department's inspector general 
accused Chavez-DeRemer of a relationship with the subordinate.

   She also faced allegations that she drank alcohol on the job and that she 
tasked aides to plan official trips for primarily personal reasons.

   Late Monday, on her personal X account, Chavez-DeRemer posted, "The 
allegations against me, my family, and my team have been peddled by high-ranked 
deep state actors who have been coordinating with the one-sided news media and 
continue to undermine President Trump's mission."

   Both the White House and the Labor Department initially said the reports of 
wrongdoing were baseless. But the official denials got less full-throated as 
more allegations emerged -- and when Chavez-DeRemer might be out of a job 
became something of an open question in Washington.

   At least four Labor Department officials have already been forced from their 
jobs as the investigation progressed, including Chavez-DeRemer's former chief 
of staff and deputy chief of staff, as well as a member of her security detail, 
with whom she was accused of having the affair, The New York Times reported.

   "I think the secretary demonstrated a lot of wisdom in resigning," Sen. John 
Kennedy, R-La., said Monday after her departure was made public.

   She enjoyed union support -- rare for a Republican

   Confirmed to Trump's Cabinet on a 67-32 vote in March 2025, Chavez-DeRemer 
is a former House GOP lawmaker who had represented a swing district in Oregon. 
She enjoyed unusual support from unions as a Republican but lost reelection in 
November 2024.

   In her single term in Congress, Chavez-DeRemer backed legislation that would 
make it easier to unionize on a federal level, as well as a separate bill aimed 
at protecting Social Security benefits for public-sector employees.

   Some prominent labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of 
Teamsters, backed Chavez-DeRemer, who is a daughter of a Teamster, for Labor 
Secretary. Trump's decision to pick her was viewed by some political observers 
as a way to appeal to voters who are members of or affiliated with labor 
organizations.

   But other powerful labor leaders were skeptical when she was tapped for the 
job, unconvinced that Chavez-DeRemer would pursue a union-friendly agenda as a 
part of the incoming GOP administration. In her Senate confirmation hearing, 
some senators questioned whether she would be able to uphold that reputation in 
an administration that fired thousands of federal employees.

   She was a key figure in Trump's deregulatory push

   Aside from reports of wrongdoing in recent months, Chavez-DeRemer had been 
one of Trump's more lower-profile Cabinet picks, but took key steps to advance 
the administration's deregulatory agenda during her tenure.

   For instance, the Labor Department last year moved to rewrite or repeal more 
than 60 workplace regulations it saw as obsolete. The rollbacks included 
minimum wage requirements for home health care workers and people with 
disabilities, and rules governing exposure to harmful substances and safety 
procedures at mines. The effort drew condemnation from union leaders and 
workplace safety experts.

   The proposed changes also included eliminating a requirement that employers 
provide adequate lighting for construction sites and seat belts for agriculture 
workers in most employer-provided transportation.

   During Chavez-DeRemer's tenure, the Trump administration canceled millions 
of dollars in international grants that a Labor Department division 
administered to combat child labor and slave labor around the world, ending 
their work that had helped reduce the number of child laborers worldwide by 78 
million over the last two decades.

   In her statement Monday, Chavez-DeRemer said, "While my time serving in the 
Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn't mean I will stop fighting for 
American workers."

   The Labor Department has a broad mandate as it relates to the U.S. 
workforce, including reporting the U.S. unemployment rate, regulating workplace 
health and safety standards, investigating minimum wage, child labor and 
overtime pay disputes, and applying laws on union organizing and unlawful 
terminations.