The Department of Labor’s (DOL) headquarters banned Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s husband after two women employed by the department alleged that he sexually assaulted them, The New York Times reported Thursday.
The staffers claimed that Dr. Shawn DeRemer touched them inappropriately inside the department building, with one of the incidents caught on security camera on Dec. 18, people familiar with the incident told the Times. The video shows DeRemer giving a woman an extended embrace, which was reviewed as part of a criminal investigation.
Another person told the newspaper the incidents were brought up during the DOL’s Office of Inspector General’s investigation into alleged misconduct between Chavez-DeRemer and two of her top staffers.
The Times obtained a Metropolitan Police Department report filed last month about forced sexual contact at the Labor Department building. The department’s sexual assault unit is investigating the incident.
After DeRemer was barred from the building, a building restriction notice viewed by the Times read, “If Mr. DeRemer attempts to enter, he is to be asked to leave.”
The Hill has reached out to the DOL for comment.
The two staffers investigated for alleged misconduct, Chavez-DeRemer’s chief of staff Jihun Han and his deputy Rebecca Wright, were reportedly placed on leave amid the investigation into claims of personal trips with family and friends paid for with taxpayer dollars, the New York Post and Politico reported. Chavez-DeRemer was also accused of having an affair with a subordinate and drinking on the job, the outlets wrote.
“There’s not an ounce of truth to this, and anyone who knows my wife would know that,” DeRemer said in a statement, the Post reported.
The DOL and White House also denied the allegations against Chavez-DeRemer. A DOL spokesperson told the Post that the “unsubstantiated allegations are categorically false.”
