Watchdog says former labor secretary violated department policies

Former Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer violated multiple Labor Department policies, contributed to a “toxic, intimidating and humiliating” workplace and improperly used government resources, the department’s inspector general said in a report released Thursday.

The report followed an investigation that began after an anonymous complaint alleging misconduct. NBC News described the document as a 44-page report, while The Guardian described it as 38 pages. The Guardian reported that the investigation began in January 2026; NBC News said it began in early January. Chavez-DeRemer, a former member of Congress appointed by President Donald Trump, resigned in April 2026 amid the allegations, according to The Guardian. NBC News reported she led the department from March 2025 to April of this year.

More than three dozen witnesses described working with Chavez-DeRemer as “toxic, intimidating and humiliating,” according to the report. Thirty-eight witnesses provided testimony, The Guardian reported. The inspector general’s office did not determine whether the conduct described amounted to unlawful discrimination, retaliation or a hostile work environment under federal law, NBC News reported.

The report said Chavez-DeRemer “engaged in an inappropriate relationship” with a member of her security detail. According to NBC News, investigators found that the two “developed and maintained an inappropriately close and unprofessional relationship,” but did “not, however, obtain sufficient direct evidence to establish that the relationship was romantic or sexual.”

One episode cited in the report involved personal travel to Oregon last year. Chavez-DeRemer requested an off-the-record stop at an establishment that, upon entry, was found to feature partially nude dancers, the report said. NBC News reported that she asked another agent to take money from her purse and “drop the bills one by one onto the partially nude woman.” The Guardian quoted the report as saying the agent hesitated, sought intervention from a supervisor and “complied against his wishes.”

The inspector general also accused Chavez-DeRemer of improperly combining personal and official travel, using agency funds for personal travel, consuming and storing alcohol on federal property, accepting gifts without properly reporting them under ethics rules and directing employees to perform personal tasks. The gifts included an alligator-hide wallet, work boots, baby gifts and cowboy hats, NBC News reported. The report said employees were sent to her residence during work hours to organize her bedroom closet.

The Guardian reported that witnesses identified “at least thirteen trips to destinations where Chavez-DeRemer visited family or her other personal residences and five trips to Las Vegas, Nevada.” The report also said her lodging exceeded allowed reimbursement rates, including three nights at a “luxury hotel and spa” in Palm Beach, Florida. Chavez-DeRemer and aides “regularly drank alcohol in Chavez-DeRemer’s study during official duty hours,” and employees who did not drink were ridiculed, The Guardian reported.

The report also accused other former senior Labor Department officials of misconduct. The Guardian reported that chief of staff Jihun Han and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright left the agency in March 2026 amid the investigation. Witnesses said aides held “beatdowns” where employees were berated for perceived performance problems. The report also alleged Wright evaluated applicants in part by appearance and weight, moved an employee’s desk because she did not want a “fat person” visible in the front office and made derogatory comments about another employee’s appearance and hygiene.

Witnesses further alleged Wright advised an employee not to cut her hair above her shoulders to avoid “turning into a lesbian” and discouraged an employee from using the Labor Department daycare center because the race of the daycare staff differed from that of the employee’s children. The report said Chavez-DeRemer did not address those comments or acknowledge they were inappropriate.

Chavez-DeRemer’s attorney, Nick Oberheiden, said she broke no laws. “Secretary Chavez-DeRemer did not violate any law,” he told NBC News, adding that she has “successfully pursued new projects as a private citizen.” In a separate statement reported by The Guardian, Oberheiden said the report was “untimely, moot, built around undisclosed individuals, and concludes what Ms Chavez-DeRemer always knew, namely that she did not break any laws.”

The Labor Department told The Guardian it “respects the integrity of the Inspector General’s investigation” and referred questions to the inspector general’s office. NBC News reported that the department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.