DOL Acting Training Chief Departs Agency Amid Leak Crackdown (2)

Amy Simon, the acting leader of the US Labor Department’s job training office, has left the agency, according to a memo sent Wednesday to DOL staff.

Simon, who worked at the DOL’s employment and training administration during the first Trump administration, had been named principal deputy assistant secretary of the office in March.

She also made a bid to become a career staffer at the agency in 2021, before returning to private practice as a consultant.

Lori Frazier Bearden will fill the role of acting assistant secretary, according to the memo.

A DOL spokesperson declined to comment on the record regarding Simon’s exit, but pointed to a memo sent out Monday prohibiting leaks of agency information to the press and other third parties.

The guidance said that agency employees are barred from sharing “non-public, pre-decisional, or confidential information” with outside parties and cautioned that employees who engage in “unauthorized communications” with the media may face serious legal consequences and “immediate disciplinary actions.”

“This message will serve as your only warning,” the April 21 memo from DOL chief of staff Jihun Han said.

The ETA has a roughly $10 billion budget overseeing the federal-state unemployment insurance system, registered apprenticeships, job training assistance, and other workforce development programs.