Labor secretary resigns

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer left the Trump administration on April 20 as a misconduct investigation into her conduct at the Department of Labor intensified. (apnews.com) The White House said Chavez-DeRemer was leaving for a private-sector job, and Deputy Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling was named acting secretary. NBC News, ABC News and Politico reported the resignation before the White House publicly confirmed it. (abcnews.go.com, nbcnews.com, politico.com) The allegations went beyond one complaint. The Associated Press reported accusations that she had an affair with a subordinate and drank alcohol on the job, while CNBC and GovExec reported claims that agency resources were used for personal travel and other improper purposes. (apnews.com, cnbc.com, govexec.com) ABC News reported that Chavez-DeRemer denied the misconduct allegations. The Labor Department’s inspector general had been investigating the claims for months, according to Reuters coverage carried by Yahoo and reporting from multiple U.S. outlets. (abcnews.go.com, yahoo.com) The resignation leaves the agency that oversees wage rules, workplace safety, union relations and federal labor enforcement under temporary leadership. That matters immediately for employers, unions and contractors because the department writes and enforces rules that shape hiring, pay practices and job-site compliance. (dol.gov, enr.com) Chavez-DeRemer had been one of Trump’s more labor-friendly cabinet picks. Her confirmation passed the Senate on March 10, 2025, by a 67-32 vote, an unusually broad margin that included support from some Democrats. (senate.gov) That bipartisan support reflected her profile before joining the cabinet. As an Oregon congresswoman, she had backed the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, a major union-backed labor bill that split Republicans and made her nomination closely watched by both business groups and organized labor. (politico.com, bloomberglaw.com) Sonderling now takes over as acting secretary with a long record inside labor and employment policy. The Labor Department says he was confirmed as deputy secretary on March 12, 2025, and serves as the department’s chief operating officer, overseeing a $14 billion budget and 16,000 employees. (dol.gov) Her exit also makes Chavez-DeRemer the third cabinet official to leave Trump’s second-term administration this year, according to AP, NBC News and The Washington Post. The immediate question is no longer whether she will stay, but how long the department runs under an acting chief and what policy priorities survive the transition. (apnews.com, nbcnews.com, washingtonpost.com)