Lori Chavez-Deremer’s sudden exit from the Labor Department on Monday laid bare a long-held belief of many inside the agency and in the business community: Her deputy was running the operation the whole time.
The White House’s decision to appoint Keith Sonderling as acting secretary of state elevates an outstanding Washington insider who is well-connected in Republican circles in the capital and in his home state of Florida. Business groups also lobbied for her to serve as DOL’s second in command after President Donald Trump’s decision to choose Chavez-DeRemar, a union-friendly former House member, to lead the agency.
Now Sonderling has been tasked with taking over a department that has been dogged by scandal for months.
“His job title significantly diminishes his importance on labor and employment matters to the administration,” said Roger King, senior labor and employment counsel for the CHRO Association, a trade group of human resources executives.
Their influence has been around since the presidential transition, but over the past year and a half it has grown exponentially and extended far beyond the DOL, going largely unnoticed outside workplace policy circles. In Sonderling, the White House is betting that a veteran of the agency will focus DOL on the president’s workplace agenda rather than attract unwanted attention.
The Labor Department is not considered a major destination in a Republican administration, but it has been a particular headache for Trump.
Former fast food executive Andrew Puzder, who was Trump’s initial choice to lead the department after winning the 2016 presidential election, was ousted amid resurfaced allegations of domestic abuse, which Puzder said were false and part of an acrimonious divorce. Puzder now serves as Ambassador to the European Union.
The White House later turned to Alexander Acosta, whose tenure as labor secretary was derailed in 2019 by a renewed investigation into his prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein for sex crimes while serving as U.S. attorney in Florida. Eugene Scalia, son of the late US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and former DOL solicitor, takes over until the inauguration of President Joe Biden in 2021.
It is unclear whether the White House will nominate Sonderling to replace Chavez-DeRemer on a permanent basis. His supporters acknowledge that he does not have the caliber that Trump often seeks for Cabinet positions, but believe he would be the most permanent choice.
“He’s really the pivot point of all labor and workforce policy for this administration,” a Republican operative close to the administration, who was granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics, said of Sonderling.
Sonderling could serve as acting Labor secretary indefinitely, as former Acting Secretary Julie Su did during the Biden administration when her nomination to replace Marty Walsh was blocked by key Senate Democrats.
A White House official granted anonymity to discuss the situation because they were not authorized to speak publicly said the president would make a decision on the Labor job “in due course.” The DOL did not make Sonderling available for an interview Tuesday and he did not respond to a request for comment.
Sonderling worked at the DOL during Trump’s first term, where he was a top official in the Wage and Hour Division before being appointed to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. At the EEOC, he has positioned himself at the forefront of how artificial intelligence will impact the workplace.
He left the civil rights agency in 2024 after his term ended. He told aides at the time that he wanted to return to the private sector, according to four people familiar with his thinking, and he was initially reluctant to sign up for another stint in the government.
Sonderling joined the Trump transition team and was one of the first people deployed to the DOL in the early days of the administration, Working as Senior Advisor To then-Acting Labor Secretary Vince Micron. The Senate voted to confirm him Deputy Secretary in March 2025Two days after Chávez-Deremar.
Even some who oppose the acting Secretary’s employer-friendly policy beliefs view him as an honest broker who is deeply knowledgeable about labor issues.
“I’ve always known him to be a straight-shooter and approachable guy,” said longtime progressive labor consultant Judy Contee. “We disagree, but it’s always in a respectful manner.”
DOL staff described Chávez-DeRemer as having little presence at DOL headquarters as she visited all 50 states during her first year on the job. His absence and relative inexperience created space for Sonderling to take a larger role in running the agency along with Courtney Walter, senior counsel in the Secretary’s Office and another DOL alumnus of Trump’s first term.
“Keith and Courtney have run this the whole time,” said a senior DOL appointee, who was granted anonymity to discuss the agency’s operations.
In addition to his duties at DOL, Sonderling, 43, is acting head of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which the White House has unsuccessfully tried to eliminate.
He also has helped select candidates for positions at several other agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board, according to four people familiar with the matter. Trump nominated earlier this month DOL Officer James Massey To fill a Republican vacancy on the panel with David Prouty, the board’s only Democratic appointee, whose term expires in August.
“They had to move everything to nominate Massey,” a Republican operative close to the administration said of Sonderling. This sentiment was shared by business groups who were pressuring the White House to take action.
The Vacancy Reform Act places limits on the terms that executive branch officials may serve. But the Biden administration relied on a separate statute that allows the deputy labor secretary to perform acting duties “until a successor is appointed.” 2023 Government Accountability Office report Supported that legal interpretation.
Thomas Berry, who has extensively researched the Vacancies Act for the Cato Institute, said, “If Trump is happy with Sonderling… even if there is no nomination, he could be acting Secretary of Labor for the remainder of the term.”
Sonderling has twice successfully won Senate confirmation for his EEOC and deputy secretary nominations, though he or anyone else Trump nominated could face a tougher path to a Cabinet position — as Su found out when Biden chose him.
“Whoever the president nominates, I hope it will be someone with strong labor policy experience and knowledge,” Contee said. “Those of us in this field are fed up with the DOL being an afterthought.”
