(AFP) – US Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said on Monday she will step down from the role, departing after a tenure beset by a series of scandals including complaints over the treatment of young female staffers. Her exit caps weeks of speculation about her future and follows the ousting of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, within days of each other, as Trump’s cabinet has become a revolving door for women in recent weeks.
“While my time serving in the Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for American workers,” Chavez-DeRemer wrote in an X post, adding she will return to the private sector. In an earlier post announcing her departure, White House communications director Steven Cheung praised the “phenomenal job” she had done in the role.
The former congresswoman was supported by more than a dozen Democrats in her confirmation but had recently been facing calls to resign over accusations that she, her aides and members of her family were routinely sending personal messages and requests to young staff members. The New York Times reported last week that she and a former deputy chief of staff sent texts asking employees to bring wine to them during trips for the department.
Chavez-DeRemer’s husband and father both also exchanged text messages with young female staff members, some of whom had been instructed by the labor secretary to “pay attention” to the men, the Times reported. The messages were gathered as part of a probe of Chavez-DeRemer’s leadership, launched in response to a complaint of widespread misconduct that revealed concerns among staff who described her as disconnected from the work of the department.
Four people have been forced out of her team as a result of the investigation, the Times reported, including her former chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, director of advance and a member of her security detail with whom she was accused of having an affair. Three staff members have filed civil rights complaints describing a hostile work environment, the Times reported.
In an April 2025 exchange reviewed by the paper, Chavez-DeRemer’s father, Richard Chavez, wrote to a young female staff member: “Hearing u/r in town. Wishing you would let me know. I could have made some excuses to get out and show u around. Please keep this private.” Chavez-DeRemer, who served one term in the US House as an Oregon representative, has not personally been accused of wrongdoing in the case involving her father and husband.
But MS NOW reported that two complaints were filed by young female staffers alleging that Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Shawn DeRemer, “subjected them to unwanted sexual touching late last year when they were working at US Department of Labor offices.” Chavez-DeRemer did not comment on any controversy surrounding her tenure in the X post announcing her departure.
Cheung said Chavez-DeRemer’s deputy Keith Sonderling would step up as acting labor secretary, but it was not clear who Trump has in mind as her permanent replacement.
– Frankie TAGGART
© 2024 AFP
