Andrea Hsu

But Chavez-Durimer's short tenure was marked by controversy.

The Labor Department's inspector general was looking into complaints that the secretary was having an affair with a subordinate, drinking alcohol on the job, and using taxpayer-funded travel to visit with friends and family members.

That's according to the New York Post and other media outlets.

NPR has not independently verified the contents of the investigation.

Her deputy, Keith Sonderling, has been named acting labor secretary.

Andrea Hsu, NPR News.

Well, the official line from Stephen Chung is that she's taking a job in the private sector.

And that's something she confirmed in her own post on X yesterday.

But we also know that she was being investigated by the Labor Department's inspector general over complaints of professional misconduct.

And that investigation, Michelle, has been going on for months now.

Several of her senior staffers have already been forced out.

And following President Trump's removal of Christine Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, in early March, and then a month later, Attorney General Pam Bondi, you know, there's been talk that the labor secretary might be the next to go.

Well, yeah, according to reporting from the New York Post and other media outlets, there were complaints that she was having an affair with a subordinate, her security detail.

Also drinking on the job, taking staffers to a strip club, and using taxpayer-funded travel to spend time with friends and family in places like Las Vegas.

Now, NPR has not independently verified the contents of the investigation, but we do know it was ongoing and a distraction for the administration.

Well, she was a one-term congresswoman from Oregon, a moderate Republican.

And she lost her seat in 2024.

But then the Teamsters president, Sean O'Brien, pushed for her nomination as labor secretary.

O'Brien liked her because she was one of the few Republicans who supported the PRO Act.

That's a bill aimed at making it easier for workers to unionize.