Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, along with four other former Department of Labor (DOL) officials, was found to have violated multiple DOL policies, according to a report by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The report, released Thursday, substantiated violations across six areas for Chavez-DeRemer, including failing to prevent harassment, maintaining an inappropriately close relationship with a security aide, combining personal and official travel improperly, consuming alcohol on federal property without authorization, directing government employees to perform personal tasks, and failing to report gifts. All five subjects, including Chavez-DeRemer, then-Chief of Staff Jihun Han, then-Deputy Chief of Staff Rebecca Wright, then-Director of Advance, and a former Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAIC), separated from federal service before the OIG completed its investigation.
The OIG report detailed several instances of alleged misconduct. For example, Chavez-DeRemer claimed $227.48 for lodging in Spokane, Washington, exceeding the allowable $126 rate and also received $86 in per diem without justification for an August 2025 trip that appeared to have no official events. In November 2025, she and Wright attended an America First Policy Institute gala in Palm Beach, Florida, where Chavez-DeRemer stayed at a luxury hotel at $529 per night, excluding taxes, significantly exceeding the $171 federal rate. Lodging costs for Chavez-DeRemer, Wright, and the Director of Advance reportedly exceeded federal reimbursement rates by approximately 300%. Chavez-DeRemer also received $2,092.63 in reimbursement for airfare, lodging, taxes, and meals for this trip, despite purchasing the airfare during a government shutdown and only later designating the trip as official after a single meeting was added.
The investigation also uncovered a December 2025 trip to Las Vegas where complimentary rodeo tickets from a lobbyist led to a previously scheduled speaking engagement being reassigned to Chavez-DeRemer to justify her travel. Additionally, Director 1 allegedly directed the use of full-sized SUVs for official travel without mission-based justification, deviating from federal travel regulations. The report also confirmed an April 2025 incident in Oregon where Chavez-DeRemer visited a strip club with subordinates and directed a security detail member to give money to a performer. More than three dozen witnesses described the secretary’s office as "toxic, intimidating and humiliating," and the report suggests a "dysfunction and toxicity" at the top of the Labor Department. Chavez-DeRemer resigned in April, prior to the report's release, after facing scrutiny over these allegations.
