WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is out of President Donald Trump\u2019s Cabinet, the White House said Monday, after multiple allegations of abusing her position\u2019s power, including having an affair with a subordinate and drinking alcohol on the job.<\/p>\n
Chavez-DeRemer is the third Trump Cabinet member to leave her post after Trump\u00a0fired<\/a>\u00a0his embattled Homeland Security Secretary\u00a0Kristi Noem<\/a>\u00a0in March and\u00a0ousted<\/a>\u00a0Attorney General\u00a0Pam Bondi<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month.<\/p>\n Unlike other recent Cabinet departures, Chavez-DeRemer\u2019s exit was announced by a White House aide, not by the president on his social media account.<\/p>\n \u201cLabor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector,\u201d White House communications director Steven Cheung said on the social media site X. \u201cShe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Labor chief, family members faced multiple allegations<\/p>\n Chavez-DeRamer\u2019s departure follows reports that began surfacing in January that she was under a series of investigations.<\/p>\n A New York Times report last Wednesday revealed that the Labor Department\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Chavez-DeRemer\u2019s 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 \u201cpay attention\u201d to her family, people familiar with the investigation told the Times.<\/p>\n Those messages were uncovered as part of a broader investigation of Chavez-DeRamer\u2019s leadership that began after the New York Post reported in January that a complaint filed with the Labor Department\u2019s inspector general accused Chavez-DeRemer of a relationship with the subordinate.<\/p>\n She also faced allegations that she drank alcohol on the job, and that she tasked aides to plan official trips for primarily personal reasons.<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 and when Chavez-DeRemer might be out of a job became something of an open question in Washington.<\/p>\n At least four Labor Department officials have already been forced from their jobs as the investigation progressed, including Chavez-DeRemer\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the secretary demonstrated a lot of wisdom in resigning,\u201d Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Monday after her departure was made public.<\/p>\n She enjoyed union support \u2014 rare for a Republican<\/p>\n Confirmed to Trump\u2019s Cabinet on a 67-32 vote<\/a>\u00a0in March 2025, Chavez-DeRemer is a former House GOP lawmaker who had\u00a0represented a swing district in Oregon<\/a>. She enjoyed unusual support from unions as a Republican but lost reelection in November 2024.<\/p>\n In her single term in Congress, Chavez-DeRemer\u00a0backed legislation<\/a>\u00a0that 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.<\/p>\n Some prominent labor unions, including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, backed Chavez-DeRemer, who is a daughter of a Teamster, for Labor Secretary. Trump\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n She was a key figure in Trump’s deregulatory push<\/p>\n Aside from reports of wrongdoing in recent months, Chavez-DeRemer had been one of Trump\u2019s more lower-profile Cabinet picks, but took key steps to advance the administration\u2019s deregulatory agenda during her tenure.<\/p>\n For instance, the Labor Department last year\u00a0moved to rewrite or repeal<\/a>\u00a0more than 60 workplace regulations it saw as obsolete. The rollbacks included minimum wage requirements\u00a0for home health care workers<\/a>\u00a0and 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.<\/p>\n The proposed changes also included eliminating a requirement that employers provide adequate lighting for construction sites and seat belts for agriculture workers in most\u00a0employer-provided transportation<\/a>.<\/p>\n