WASHINGTON — A fourth worker has left the Division of Labor after being sidelined amid a sprawling watchdog probe of Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer involving alleged journey fraud and different misconduct, The Submit has discovered.
Melissa Robey, who served as director of advance within the secretary’s workplace, was fired on Tuesday on the prompting of the White Home, sources mentioned, making her the most recent DOL aide within the secretary’s workplace to exit in the course of the inspector basic’s investigation.
On March 4, Robey was placed on administrative depart following allegations that she misused taxpayer {dollars} for official journey — in the future after Chavez-DeRemer’s high aides resigned from their positions whereas going through related allegations.
Investigators gathered ample proof of the “poisonous” office created by the pair, together with verbal abuse of staffers and waste of departmental assets on private journey, sources famous.
Individuals accustomed to the probe added that Robey additionally had extreme travel-related expenditures.
The senior aides, chief of employees Jihun Han and deputy Rebecca Wright, have been additionally accused of fostering a “hostile” work surroundings with Chavez-DeRemer, 57, and committing “journey fraud” by serving to “make up” official journeys to locations the place the secretary may spend private time on the taxpayers’ dime
Moreover, Brian Sloan, a bodyguard on the Cupboard official’s safety element, was sidelined on Jan. 16, following allegations of getting an extramarital affair with Chavez-DeRemer. He resigned earlier this month.
Since January, Inspector Basic Anthony D’Esposito’s workplace has been probing allegations of misconduct — which have been first uncovered by The Submit — that additionally claimed the labor secretary was abusing her place and even ingesting in her workplace in the course of the workday.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who chairs the Judiciary Committee, has additionally demanded data concerning the alleged sexual and office misconduct — together with proof that the secretary allegedly took subordinates to an Oregon strip membership shortly after she was confirmed by the Senate in April 2025.
The White Home has stood by the secretary all through the investigation, with President Trump often congratulating Chavez-DeRemer for her work at DOL in public occasions.
Han and Wright had labored for her within the Home when she served as a Home Republican representing Oregon’s fifth Congressional District from 2023 to 2025.
The Treasury Division needed to pay out almost $100,000 in taxpayer-appropriated funding final 12 months to settle an employment discrimination declare stemming from Chavez-DeRemer’s congressional workplace — the very best sum recorded since 2019.
“It’s the coverage of the Division of Labor to not touch upon personnel issues,” a DOL spokesperson mentioned.
Robey and the White Home didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
