Labor Watchdog Substantiates Policy Violations by Former Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer

Watchdog substantiates violations across six areas

WASHINGTON — The Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General has concluded that former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer's conduct was inconsistent with federal standards across six areas, capping an administrative investigation that began after an anonymous complaint in January.

The watchdog found failures involving the department's workplace-harassment policy, an inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship with a supervisory protective agent, the combination of personal and official travel, unauthorized alcohol possession and consumption on federal property, personal tasks assigned to government employees on official time and gifts that were not reported through required channels.

These are administrative findings reached under a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard—meaning the alleged conduct was assessed as more likely than not—not a criminal conviction or a court judgment. The report does not announce a criminal charge against Chavez-DeRemer, and it does not quantify a final taxpayer-loss total attributable to her conduct.

Read the source: Department of Labor OIG: Report of Investigation No. 50-26-004-01-001 ↗

A broad investigation with an important participation gap

Investigators interviewed 53 current and former Labor Department employees and one employee from another federal agency. They also reviewed more than 500 documents, images and videos, including official emails, personnel files, contents recovered from government devices, surveillance, time-and-attendance records, leave records and travel documentation.

The OIG said it followed its internal procedures and the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency's quality standards. Its report covers Chavez-DeRemer, former chief of staff Jihun Han, former deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright and two former officials whose names were withheld because they were not political appointees.

Chavez-DeRemer was scheduled for an OIG interview on April 21, one day after she resigned, according to the report. Her attorney declined to make her available, so investigators did not interview her. The Associated Press reported Friday that she did not immediately respond to a separate request for comment.

Read the source: Associated Press: Watchdog findings and Chavez-DeRemer's response status ↗

Workplace evidence and the limits of the finding

Thirty-eight witnesses consistently described the Office of the Secretary environment as toxic, intimidating and humiliating, the report says. Investigators concluded that Han and Wright engaged in prohibited harassing behavior and that Chavez-DeRemer, Han and Wright failed to follow requirements to report, discipline and prevent further workplace harassment.

The OIG did not decide whether the conduct met the separate legal threshold for unlawful discrimination, retaliation or a hostile work environment under federal equal-employment law. It instead evaluated whether the five subjects followed the department's internal policies and other cited ethics and travel rules.

That distinction matters: a substantiated policy violation can warrant discipline or reforms, but it is not interchangeable with a civil-court finding, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling or a criminal verdict. None of those separate outcomes is announced in the report.

Read the source: Reuters: Chavez-DeRemer's April resignation during the investigation ↗

Protective-detail relationship raised impartiality and safety concerns

The OIG concluded that Chavez-DeRemer developed and maintained an inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship with an assistant special agent in charge who exercised supervisory and operational authority over her protective detail. Investigators tied that relationship to federal impartiality and preferential-treatment standards.

The report says the agent repeatedly released or repositioned personnel, did not communicate changes in coverage or the secretary's location and assumed sole responsibility for her protection in circumstances inconsistent with the unit's procedures. Investigators concluded that those actions needlessly reduced protective coverage on multiple occasions.

The OIG explicitly did not conclude that the direct evidence was sufficient to establish a romantic or sexual relationship. Reporting an unprofessional relationship and operational conflicts must not be inflated into a finding the investigators said they could not make.

Read the source: Wikimedia Commons: Official Labor Department portrait and public-domain status ↗

Travel, alcohol, personal tasks and unreported gifts

Investigators found that personal and official travel were combined in ways inconsistent with Labor Department policy and the Federal Travel Regulation. Among the examples, the report describes an official designation added to a December 2025 Las Vegas trip after complimentary rodeo tickets were received and another trip with hotel and reimbursement records that lacked approvals located by investigators.

The watchdog also found that Chavez-DeRemer and two aides regularly stored and consumed alcohol on federal property without the required advance written authorization. It said witness accounts, physical evidence and records supported the conclusion, while a search of the department's security records found no written approval for the Frances Perkins Building during her tenure.

Witness statements, messages, photographs and video also supported findings that subordinates performed personal tasks for Chavez-DeRemer during duty hours. The report separately identifies gifts—including rodeo tickets, an alligator-hide wallet and cowboy hats—that were not consistently reported through the department's required ethics process.

Former officials have left; the department still faces reforms

All five subjects left federal service before the investigation was completed. Chavez-DeRemer and the protective agent resigned; Han, Wright and the other unnamed official were terminated between March and April. The OIG says those departures did not result from the findings in this report.

Because the former officials are gone, the watchdog sent the report to the acting labor secretary for any action he considers appropriate. It also recommended structural independence for the protective unit, recurring independent audits of senior-official travel, a department-wide policy for personal relationships between supervisors and subordinates, annual training and stronger whistleblower safeguards.

The public accountability question now shifts from whether misconduct allegations existed to whether the department will publish a response and implement durable controls. Departure from office does not erase the need to protect employees, public money, independent security decisions and people who report wrongdoing.

About the image

The accompanying image is Chavez-DeRemer's official 2025 Department of Labor portrait, photographed by Shawn T. Moore. It is an authentic federal file photograph and does not depict the inspector general investigation, the employees interviewed or any conduct described in the report.

The image is in the public domain in the United States because it was created by the U.S. Department of Labor. Its use does not imply endorsement by Chavez-DeRemer, the photographer, the department or Wikimedia Commons.