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The husband of U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Clackamas County anesthesiologist Dr. Shawn DeRemer, has been banned from the department’s Washington, D.C., headquarters after staff told officials he sexually assaulted them, The New York Times reported Thursday.
DeRemer is listed as the CEO of an anesthesia company headquartered just outside Milwaukie. Chavez-DeRemer, his wife, served for years as Happy Valley’s mayor and represented Oregon’s 5th Congressional District in Congress for one term. After the Republican lost her 2024 reelection bid to U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), President Donald Trump made her labor secretary in March.
According to the Times report, at least two staff members in the U.S. Department of Labor told officials Shawn DeRemer had inappropriately touched them, leading to him being barred from the premises.
“If Mr. DeRemer attempts to enter, he is to be asked to leave,” said a Labor Department building notice, according to the Times.
The story cited anonymous sources and a police report.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department sent WW a copy of a police report with names redacted, but with the same dates as the report referred to in the Times story. The police report is dated Jan. 24, but it refers to an incident it says occurred at the Department of Labor’s Perkins Building between 10:30 and 11:30 am on Dec. 18.
The narrative portion of the report contains just one sentence. “The complainant reported a sexual contact against her will,” it says.
An MPD spokesperson tells WW the report refers to “an active investigation by MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit. The names of the victims are redacted from the report to preserve their anonymity, and we cannot confirm the names of potential suspects or witnesses.”
The Labor Department media line went to voicemail, saying no one was available due to the “suspension of government services.” WW called and left a voicemail with Chavez-DeRemer seeking comment, and called and texted her husband at a number listed under his name.
The person who answered the phone at his anesthesia company, Anesthesia Associates NW, declined to connect a reporter with DeRemer, but said she would let him know the paper was seeking his perspective.
A review of Oregon Medical Board records shows no board actions or closed malpractice claims on file for DeRemer.
The Times report comes after Chavez-DeRemer faced numerous internal complaints of her own at the Department of Labor, first reported by the New York Post, accusing her of various forms of inappropriate conduct, including having an improper sexual relationship with a member of her security detail.
