Labor Secretary Chavez-DeRemer accused of retaliating against staffers who reported her husband's alleged sexual misconduct at DoL headquarters

On April 3, 2026, three female Department of Labor staffers filed complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer had retaliated against them for reporting misconduct. Two of the complaints were filed by female DoL employees who alleged that Chavez-DeRemer's husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, sexually abused them inside DoL headquarters in Washington, D.C. in December 2025. The D.C. U.S. Attorney's Office declined to charge DeRemer in connection with those allegations. The two women alleged that Secretary Chavez-DeRemer subsequently retaliated against them for having made the reports — an EEOC-protected activity. A third complaint alleged that Chavez-DeRemer required DoL staffers to perform personal chores for her, including cleaning out her closets, constituting self-dealing through subordinate labor.

All three women had also been interviewed by the DoL Inspector General as part of a broader investigation into fraud and misconduct by Chavez-DeRemer and her senior aides. Just The News reported the complaints based on New York Post and New York Times coverage of the EEOC filings. The IG investigation was ongoing as of the filing date. The complaints constitute formal federal civil rights charges against a sitting Cabinet secretary, with the EEOC the statutory body that enforces federal law against discrimination and retaliation in employment.

Updates

2026-04-20 — Chavez-DeRemer resigns as Labor Secretary amid misconduct probe [4]

On April 20, 2026, Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned, 17 days after the EEOC complaints were filed, as the DoL Inspector General's fraud-and-misconduct investigation remained ongoing. The White House framed the departure as Chavez-DeRemer taking a private-sector position; a senior Labor Department official said she had resigned. Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling was named acting secretary.

2026-09-04 — DoL Inspector General report substantiated hostile-work-environment and self-dealing findings [5, 6]

The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General's fraud-and-misconduct investigation -- the same probe in which all three EEOC complainants above were interviewed -- concluded that Chavez-DeRemer oversaw a "toxic, intimidating and humiliating" work environment and violated multiple department policies. Based on interviews with dozens of current and former staffers and a review of more than 500 documents, the report substantiated the personal-errand allegations already recorded above (including directing staff to organize her home closet) and found further misconduct: combining personal and official travel, alcohol-policy violations, failing to report gifts through proper channels, and an "inappropriately close" relationship with a member of her security detail, including directing a driver to give money to a strip club performer during a personal trip. Chavez-DeRemer, who resigned before her scheduled IG interview, could not immediately be reached for comment.