Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer is facing an internal investigation after a complaint alleged she has been “abusing her position” by pursuing a relationship with a subordinate and drinking on the job.
According to a report from The New York Post, a complaint filed last week with the Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General alleged that Chavez-DeRemer hosted a subordinate at her Washington D.C. apartment three times and twice in her hotel room while traveling.
She has also been accused of drinking during the day, keeping a stash of champagne, Bourbon and Kahlua in her office, and committing travel fraud by requesting her staffers concoct official trips to destinations where she can spend time with family or friends.
The Post report also cites sources who describe Chavez-DeRember as a “boss from hell” who demands that aides run personal errands for her and perform other menial tasks while at work.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Department of Labor for comment. A spokesperson for the White House told the New York Post that the allegations were baseless.
“Secretary Chavez-DeRemer is an incredible asset to President Trump’s team and she will continue advancing the President’s America First agenda,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement.
Labor Department spokesperson Courtney Parella told the Post, “These unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false.”
“Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has complied with all ethics rules and Department policies and remains fully engaged in carrying out the Department’s work on behalf of this historic Administration,” her statement continued. “The Secretary is considering all possible avenues, including legal action, to fight these baseless accusations from anonymous sources.”
A spokesperson for the department’s inspector general’s office declined to confirm the existence of any investigation, telling the Post, “It 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.”
“DOL OIG remains committed to rooting out fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption through objective, independent oversight of the U.S. Department of Labor.”
In addition to Chavez-DeRemer, her chief of staff Jihun Han and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright are also under investigation, with the complaint alleging that both Han and Wright had knowledge of these issues.
Chavez-DeRemer, 57, represented Oregon’s 5th congressional district from 2023 to 2025 before being appointed Labor Secretary by President Donald Trump. She also served as mayor of Happy Valley from 2011 to 2019.
She married her husband, Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist, in 1991, and the couple shares two children.
Her husband told the Post in a statement, “There’s not an ounce of truth to this, and anyone who knows my wife would know that.”
The former congresswoman previously raised eyebrows after throwing herself a birthday party at the Labor Department’s headquarters last April. Department employees felt the event was gratuitous and self-indulgent given the drastic cuts government departments were facing at the time as a result of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
In a September 2025 ProPublica report published after Trump promised to target people who claim more than one primary residence on their loan papers, it was revealed that Chavez-DeRemer obtained two primary residence mortgages in 2021.
A spokesperson for the secretary said that the couple bought their Arizona home with the intent to retire there, but decided against it after Chavez-DeRember decided to run for Congress in Oregon.
President Donald Trump, who also signed two mortgages weeks apart while declaring both homes as his primary residence, described the practice as “deceitful and potentially criminal” when targeting Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook.
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