WASHINGTON, D.C. — Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer will leave the Trump administration to take a position in the private sector. Keith Sonderling will take on the role of acting secretary of labor.

Chavez-DeRemer is the third Cabinet member to leave during President Donald Trump's second term. Trump fired Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary in March 2026 and removed Pam Bondi from her position of attorney general in April 2026.

"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," said Steven Cheung, White House director of communications.

Chavez-DeRemer had been under internal investigation for potential wrongdoing by the Labor Department's inspector general. The New York Post first reported in January 2026 that the inspector general had launched the investigation into workplace misconduct. Nick Oberheiden, an attorney for Chavez-DeRemer, said the departure is not related to the investigation. "It is not the result of legal wrongdoings. It is a personal decision," Oberheiden said.

The inspector general's investigation resulted in multiple of Chavez-DeRemer's top staffers being placed on administrative leave and then leaving their posts. Her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff, who had been on leave since January 2026, resigned in early March 2026. Melissa Robey was fired after giving a four-hour interview to the Office of the Inspector General.

Shawn DeRemer, an anesthesiologist in Portland, Oregon, was barred from the Department of Labor headquarters in Washington, D.C., after two women who work there reported that he had touched them inappropriately. Washington, D.C. police and federal prosecutors closed the cases against him without bringing charges.

Chavez-DeRemer previously served one term as a Republican congresswoman from Oregon before losing her bid for reelection. While in Congress, she cosponsored the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. As labor secretary, she launched the "America at Work" listening tour, which took her to all 50 states.