Lori Chavez-DeRemer out as Labor secretary

Originally Published: 20 APR 26 17:18 ET

Updated: 20 APR 26 17:38 ET

By Alejandra Jaramillo, Alicia Wallace, CNN

(CNN) — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will step down from the Trump administration to take a job in the private sector, according to a statement posted Monday by White House communications director Steven Cheung.

“Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will be leaving the Administration to take a position in the private sector. She has done a phenomenal job in her role by protecting American workers, enacting fair labor practices, and helping Americans gain additional skills to improve their lives,” Cheung said.

Keith Sonderling will serve as acting secretary of the Department of Labor, Cheung added.

CNN has asked the White House for more details, including when Chavez-DeRemer’s departure will take effect.

Chavez-DeRemer’s brief tenure has been one marked by turmoil as she’s come under internal investigation following complaints within the department about her conduct. The New York Times previously reported that her husband had been banned from the department’s headquarters amid sexual assault allegations. A criminal investigation into that matter has been closed.

In March, two of her top aides were forced out amid an investigation into misconduct at the agency, the Times reported.

Chavez-DeRemer was sworn in as secretary of Labor in March 2025, a time when the Trump administration, via the Department of Government Efficiency, sought to slash federal funding, cut programs and drastically reduce the federal workforce by cutting hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Reductions in staffing at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in particular, stoked concern from policymakers, economists, academics, researchers and others, who sounded the alarm that existing funding and staffing were not adequate to make the “gold-standard” data more modernized and robust. And the agency faced acute upheaval when Trump fired Commissioner Erika McEntarfer following a jobs report that contained large revisions.

In the days following McEntarfer’s firing, Chavez-DeRemer told Fox Business that it was her job to support the president in the matter.

During her tenure, Chavez-DeRemer’s Labor Department announced sweeping deregulatory efforts aimed at rewriting or repealing more than 60 workplace regulations it deemed obsolete. Those included proposals to eliminate a minimum wage requirement for home health care workers, remove a standard requiring lighting in active construction areas and reduce health and safety regulations in the mining industry.

This story has been updated with additional context.

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