At least three people have filed formal workplace discrimination complaints against Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, including two young female staffers who accused her husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, of unwanted sexual touching late last year while they were working at U.S. Department of Labor offices.
The complaints, filed as Equal Employment Opportunity cases, portray Chavez-DeRemer as an agency leader who fostered a hostile workplace where staff feared punishment for speaking out or resisting directives they considered inappropriate. One complaint says she directed staff to perform personal chores for her, including cleaning out one of her clothing closets.
The allegations land amid ongoing investigations into misconduct claims involving Chavez-DeRemer and members of her senior staff, a scrutiny that intensified after the Department of Labor inspector general launched a probe following a complaint about her. One female staffer reported a sex abuse incident to police in December, and the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department investigated allegations involving Shawn DeRemer. At least one alleged incident was captured on office security footage and appeared to corroborate portions of one staffer’s account.
That police case ended in February, when The Washington Post reported that MPD closed its investigation of Shawn DeRemer and found no evidence of a crime. He remains banned from the agency. The complaints tied to Chavez-DeRemer also echo separate allegations first reported by the New York Post, which said one filing accused her of abusing her position through an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate and alleged that she drank in her office during work hours and committed travel fraud.
DOL spokesperson Courtney Parella called the claims false, saying the “unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false.” She also said, “Secretary Chavez-DeRemer has complied with all ethics rules and Department policies and remains fully engaged in carrying out the Department’s work on behalf of this historic Administration.”
MS NOW is not naming the two women who filed the sexual-touching complaints to protect their identities while the investigations continue. The broader question now is not whether the allegations have multiplied — they have — but how far the department’s internal probes will reach inside the agency and around the secretary herself.