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Labor Secretary Is a Rare Presence at Department in Turmoil
Lori Chavez-DeRemer is under investigation internally after allegations of misconduct and misuse of department funds.
Lori Chavez-DeRemer, President Trump’s labor secretary, has led the Labor Department into crisis.Credit...Al Drago for The New York Times
In the weeks after President Trump nominated Lori Chavez-DeRemer to be his labor secretary, she told potential deputies, Labor Department veterans and administration officials that her vision for the role was that of a figurehead.
Since she took office last March, that has meant traveling the country meeting with workers and employers, while back in Washington the Labor Department has descended into crisis.
The agency’s inspector general has opened an inquiry into allegations of professional misconduct by Ms. Chavez-DeRemer and her closest aides. Investigators have spoken with several dozen witnesses and reviewed evidence and allegations that the secretary used department resources for personal trips, that she was having an affair with a member of her security team and that her aides tried to steer grants to favored political operatives.
Ms. Chavez-DeRemer’s husband has been barred from the department’s headquarters, after female staff members accused him of making unwanted sexual advances. His lawyer has said the accusers were working with department employees, whom he did not name, to force Ms. Chavez-DeRemer out of office. Police and prosecutors have said they would not bring a case against her husband.
In interviews, more than two dozen current and former department employees from across the political spectrum described a toxic workplace characterized by an absentee secretary, hostile aides and a deeply demoralized staff. Most of them spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss department business or because they feared retribution.
“The crisis at the Department of Labor is a crisis of leadership,” said Helen Luryi, who until April worked in the department’s Women’s Bureau. “Over the past few weeks we’ve learned that not only is she not doing her job, she’s embroiling the department in scandal and possible criminal activity. It’s frankly embarrassing.”
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