Trump’s labor secretary hit with multiple workplace discrimination complaints: report

President Donald Trump’s embattled Secretary of Labor has faced at least three complaints at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for how she is running the department, reported MS NOW on Thursday.Of those three complaints, “Two … were filed by young female staffers who have alleged that Chavez-DeRemer’s husband, Dr. Shawn DeRemer, subjected them to unwanted sexual touching late last year when they were working at U.S. Department of Labor offices,” said the report. “MS NOW is not sharing the names of the two women to protect their identities during ongoing investigations of their claims.”This comes after previous reports that Chavez-DeRemer herself was under investigation for “inappropriate” relations with a subordinate.”The allegations, filed as Equal Employment Opportunity complaints, portray Chavez-DeRemer as an agency leader who fostered a hostile workplace where staff feared punishment for speaking out or resisting directives they considered inappropriate,” said the report. “One of the complaints says the Labor Secretary also directed staff to perform personal chores for her, including cleaning out one of her clothing closets, according to one of the sources.”Also among the allegations are that people who spoke out about inappropriate contact by Chavez-DeRemer’s husband faced professional retaliation.”One of the female staffers reported a sex abuse incident to police in December, according to a police report obtained by MS NOW, and the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan Police Department investigated the allegations involving Shawn DeRemer. At least one of the alleged incidents was captured on office security footage and appeared to corroborate portions of one the staffer’s account, according to a source familiar with the matter,” said the report. “The Washington Post reported in February that MPD closed its investigation of Shawn DeRemer, finding no evidence of a crime, but that he remains banned from the agency.”Chavez-DeRemer has previously denied all allegations of misconduct in her department.

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