Third Labor Secretary Aide Placed on Leave as Fraud Probe Grows

Another top aide to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer was placed on leave Wednesday following a growing investigation into allegations of misconduct, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Melissa Robey, director of advance at the Labor Department, was placed on administrative leave while the agency’s inspector general investigates whether the secretary and her staff booked official travel trips for personal reasons.

The New York Times first reported the move.

Notice of Robey’s leave came as she was traveling in Hawaii with the secretary for one of her last stops on her 50-state America at Work tour. Robey has accompanied Chavez-DeRemer on all of her trips in the tour, according to the person familiar with the development.

This is the fourth person in the secretary’s orbit to be placed on administrative leave as the misconduct investigation into her office grows. On top of the travel fraud allegations, Chavez-DeRemer was accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a security guard on her detail, taking staff members to a strip club, and drinking in the office.

Two of her top aides, chief of staff Jihun Han and deputy chief of staff Rebecca Wright, resigned this week after weeks of being on leave during the investigation. The security guard was also sidelined.

The secretary’s husband Shawn DeRemer has also been banned from the Labor Department headquarters after he was accused of sexually assaulting at least two staffers while visiting his wife. One of the staffers filed a complaint against him with Washington DC’s Metropolitan Police Department but prosecutors declined to press charges against him.

A spokesperson for the Labor Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.