{"id":95437,"date":"2026-01-10T01:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95437\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T01:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T01:26:09","slug":"exclusive-labor-secretary-lori-chavez-deremer-under-investigation-for-inappropriate-relationship-with-employee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/95437\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer under investigation for ‘inappropriate’ relationship with employee"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Labor Secretary\u00a0Lori Chavez-DeRemer<\/a>\u00a0is under an internal investigation following an explosive complaint alleging she\u2019s been \u201cabusing her position\u201d by pursuing an \u201cinappropriate\u201d relationship with a subordinate, according to sources and documents reviewed by The Post.<\/p>\n

Chavez-DeRemer, 57, has welcomed her alleged paramour at least three times to her DC apartment and twice into her hotel room while traveling, alleges a complaint filed with the Department of Labor\u2019s (DOL) Office of Inspector General last week, which has since begun a probe.<\/p>\n

The former Oregon congresswoman is also accused of drinking in her office during the workday and committing \u201ctravel fraud\u201d by having her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff \u201cmake up\u201d official trips to destinations where Chavez-DeRemer can spend time with family or friends on the taxpayers\u2019 dime.<\/p>\n

White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers called the allegations \u201cbaseless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor Secretary\u00a0Lori Chavez-DeRemer\u00a0is being investigated by her department\u2019s Office of Inspector General for pursuing an \u201cinappropriate\u201d relationship with a subordinate, according to sources and internal documents. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cSecretary Chavez-DeRemer is an incredible asset to President Trump\u2019s team and she will continue advancing the President\u2019s America First agenda,\u201d Rogers said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Sources also accused her of being a \u201cboss from hell,\u201d by forcing aides to run personal errands or perform other menial tasks while on the clock.<\/p>\n

Chavez-DeRemer, chief of staff Jihun Han, and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright\u00a0 \u2014 whom the complaint alleges are \u201cinvolved and have knowledge of these issues\u201d \u2014 are all now under investigation by the DOL\u2019s Office of Inspector General, according to sources and documents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false,\u201d said DOL spokesperson Courtney Parella. \u201cSecretary Chavez-DeRemer has complied with all ethics rules and Department policies and remains fully engaged in carrying out the Department\u2019s work on behalf of this historic Administration. The Secretary is considering all possible avenues, including legal action, to fight these baseless accusations from anonymous sources.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the DOL\u2019s inspector general\u2019s office, which is run<\/a> by former New York GOP Rep. Anthony D\u2019Esposito, said: \u201cIt is the policy of the DOL OIG to neither confirm nor deny the existence or non-existence of any OIG investigation or complaint beyond what is published on our website.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDOL OIG remains committed to rooting out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption through objective, independent oversight of the U.S. Department of Labor,\u201d the rep added. D\u2019Esposito referred The Post to an IG spokesperson for comment.<\/p>\n

Chavez-DeRemer, seen with an unidentified woman, traveled with the alleged paramour to the Red Rocks Casino Resort and Spa in October. New York Post<\/p>\n

Two purported meet-ups between Chavez-DeRemer and her alleged affair partner took place in September, after the mom-of-two told her security detail that protection wasn\u2019t needed, according to the IG complaint.<\/p>\n

A third alleged visit occurred at the same DC apartment in October, when the man waited until the agents protecting the secretary went home before driving over, the complaint noted.<\/p>\n

The subordinate allegedly entangled with the secretary told the Post, \u201cI got lawyers, so I\u2019m not gonna talk to you. I have nothing to say.\u201d He declined to provide his lawyers\u2019 contact information.<\/p>\n

Chavez-DeRemer and the staffer traveled together to the Red Rocks Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas in late October to celebrate her niece\u2019s 40th birthday party while the federal government was shut down, photos and videos obtained by The Post show.<\/p>\n

The complaint said that additional video footage from the hotel shows the pair engaging in unprofessional behavior on at least two trips to Vegas in 2025. New York Post<\/p>\n

The complaint said that additional video footage from the hotel shows the pair engaging in unprofessional behavior on at least two trips to Vegas in 2025. The Post has not seen the alleged footage.<\/p>\n

When word of the alleged misconduct began circulating in the department, Chavez-DeRemer instructed her chief of staff, Han, to \u201cleave it alone,\u201d the complaint stated.<\/p>\n

The complaint also described Chavez-DeRemer drinking in her office \u2014 with references to \u201ca stash\u201d of champagne, bourbon and Kahlua that she keeps there.<\/p>\n

When word of the alleged misconduct began circulating in the department, Chavez-DeRemer instructed her chief of staff, Han, to \u201cleave it alone,\u201d the complaint stated. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

In 2025, the DOL spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars for the secretary to visit 37 states on more than 50 official trips, according to sources and official travel schedules.<\/p>\n

At least 10 of those visits were to Nevada or locations where she has personal ties \u2014 including her home state of Oregon; Arizona, where she and her anesthesiologist husband have a home that\u2019s listed as a primary residence in mortgage documents, as ProPublica first reported<\/a>; and Michigan, where her daughter resides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not an ounce of truth to this, and anyone who knows my wife would know that,\u201d said Chavez-DeRemer\u2019s husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, of the allegations in a statement.<\/p>\n

The secretary has quipped to aides whether she can \u201cget her own airplane\u201d for the trips, the sources also said. AP<\/p>\n

In November alone, the labor secretary went on five trips, three of which were listed in her own travel schedules as \u201cpersonal\u201d and included stops in Michigan, Oregon and California, according to schedules reviewed by The Post.<\/p>\n

While on official travel, Chavez-DeRemer will speak for 30 minutes to an hour and then does \u201cpersonal stuff\u201d and \u201cgoes out drinking at night\u201d on the government\u2019s dime, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe New York Post was unable to provide any evidence to corroborate these baseless claims\u00a0in this \u2018report\u2019 supposedly filed by a FORMER disgruntled employee,\u201d Rogers, from the White House, said in a statement. \u201cAdditionally, they were unable to present any evidence that this \u2018report\u2019 was ever even filed. Reporting on these allegations without any evidence to back them is basic journalistic malpractice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chavez-DeRemer did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

During her failed 2024 House re-election bid, Chavez-DeRemer splurged<\/a> on more than $56,000 on luxury hotels and $4,345 on limo and chauffeur services.<\/p>\n

Such use of campaign funds are not prohibited by federal law and Chavez-DeRemer was not accused of violating election laws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 Labor Secretary\u00a0Lori Chavez-DeRemer\u00a0is under an internal investigation following an explosive complaint alleging she\u2019s been \u201cabusing her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9829,38343,44556,44557,68,44558,9,11,10,87,58],"class_list":["post-95437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-affairs","tag-department-of-labor","tag-ethics-complaint","tag-ethics-probe","tag-exclusive","tag-inspector-general","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-politics","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}