Lori Chavez-DeRemer, the United States Secretary of Labor, resigned this week following multiple controversies that marked her short tenure. However, labor officials indicate that the agency continues to experience what they describe as “constant turbulence” even after her departure.
Allegations and Investigation
Chavez-DeRemer faced investigations into claims that she had an affair with a subordinate and misused travel funds. Additionally, her aides were accused of steering grants to politically connected individuals. Her husband was banned from the agency’s headquarters due to allegations of sexual assault by at least two staff members.
In her resignation announcement on Instagram and X, Chavez-DeRemer denied all allegations, asserting that “the allegations against me, my family, and my team have been peddled by high-ranked deep state actors who have been coordinating with the one-sided news media and continue to undermine President Trump’s mission.”
Reactions from Union Leaders and Staff
Omar Algeciras, vice-president of AFGE Local 2391, which represents Department of Labor workers, criticized Chavez-DeRemer’s statement. “Labeling these workers as ‘deep state’ dismisses the mission and the people who carry it out every day,” he said.
“Career staff have kept this agency moving despite constant turbulence. As a union leader, I see first-hand how employees continue to deliver for workers across the country under difficult conditions,” Algeciras added. “This resignation creates an opening, but without stable leadership, respect for the workforce and a clear commitment to the mission, the challenges facing the department will continue.”
Algeciras also claimed that Chavez-DeRemer never signed a harassment policy statement for the agency, despite it being a requirement. The Department of Labor did not respond to a request for comment on this allegation.
Impact on the Department
Under Chavez-DeRemer, the Department of Labor reduced its workforce by approximately 20% through buyouts, resignations, and firings. The agency also eliminated millions of dollars in international grants. Last year, workers told the Guardian that morale had “plummeted” amid cuts, deregulatory efforts, and threats to staff, including a memo warning employees against speaking to the media.
In January 2026, union leaders criticized the Department of Labor for shifting its social media posts to content they said echoed Nazi rhetoric. Following the criticism, the social media staffer was transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.
Criticism from Labor Experts and Lawmakers
Cathy Creighton, director of the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations’ Buffalo Co-Lab, criticized Chavez-DeRemer’s leadership. “Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer sat by as her department’s budget was slashed, as worker protections for other agencies were dismantled, supported the Trump administration’s attempt to annihilate the federal workforces’ unions and placed a three-story portrait of the president on the labor department building,” she said in a statement.
Creighton cited a deregulation agenda announced in July 2025 that included rescinding overtime and minimum wage protections for homecare and domestic workers, rolling back farm worker labor protections, and withdrawing a rule preventing employers from paying workers with disabilities a sub-minimum wage.
Congressional Labor caucus co-chairs Donald Norcross, Mark Pocan, Steven Horsford, and Debbie Dingell issued a joint statement strongly criticizing Chavez-DeRemer’s leadership. “Secretary Chavez-DeRemer advanced the administration’s anti-worker agenda, facing removal only for the scandals she was involved in, and not the decisions she made that reduced oversight of workplace safety and enforcement of labor laws, leaving workers more vulnerable to injury, wage theft and exploitation,” the statement said. “Her tenure leaves workers with less protections and greater economic insecurity.”
Background and Support
Chavez-DeRemer was nominated with strong support from the Teamsters union, whose president, Sean O’Brien, advocated for her nomination after Trump won the 2024 election. Trump was photographed with Chavez-DeRemer and O’Brien during the nomination announcement.
“The Teamsters are grateful to President Trump for putting American workers first by nominating Representative Chavez-DeRemer to this important role,” O’Brien said in a February 2025 statement. The Teamsters did not respond to multiple requests for comment on her resignation.
The US Department of Labor also did not respond to requests for comment.
