Chavez-DeRemer steps down as US labor secretary amid misconduct probe

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WASHINGTON – U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned on Monday amid allegations of misconduct at the department, stepping down as the Labor Department’s inspector general neared the end of an investigation into claims involving her and her top aides.

Her deputy, Keith Sonderling, will serve as acting secretary, the White House said.

“While my time serving in the Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for American workers. I am looking forward to what the future has in store as I depart for the private sector,” Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement.

The Labor Department’s inspector general is nearing the end of a months-long investigation into a whistleblower’s allegations of professional misconduct by Chavez-DeRemer, including claims that she had an affair with a member of her security team and used department resources for personal trips. Chavez-DeRemer was expected to be interviewed in the matter in the coming days.

Her departure makes her the third to leave President Donald Trump‘s cabinet in recent weeks. Kristi Noem was fired as secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in March and Pam Bondi left as attorney general less than a month later.

Trump had been weighing a broader cabinet reshuffling as he grows increasingly frustrated with the political fallout from the war with Iran, five people familiar with internal White House discussions told Reuters earlier this month.

Chavez-DeRemer took the helm of the agency in March 2025 after serving in the U.S. House of Representatives for two years. Her nomination received bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations were among the unions that supported Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination.

At the time, the AFL-CIO praised her “history of supporting the freedom of workers to organize, join unions and other fundamental values of the labor movement.”

The Teamsters did not immediately respond when reached about Chavez-DeRemer’s departure. The AFL-CIO said a labor secretary who “understands working people and will work to make our lives better” is needed.

Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure was fraught with allegations of misconduct at the department that resulted in the resignations of her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff.

The department’s inspector general has also investigated Chavez-DeRemer and her aides over claims that they sent personal text messages and inappropriate requests to young staff members, according to the New York Times.

Reporting by Jasper Ward in Washington; additional reporting by Nandita Bose, Gram Slattery and Andrea Shalal; editing by Caitlin Webber and Stephen Coates.