There has been a lot of conversation about Andrew Puzder, Trump’s Secretary of Labor nominee. Mr. Puzder’s appointment is adamantly opposed by unions, employee advocates and Democrats. It is anticipated that he will go on to be confirmed by the Republican majority. As the CEO of CKE Restaurants (Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.), Mr. Puzder has demonstrated in the past to be an outspoken critic of the worker protections enacted by the Obama administration.
Minimum Wage
Mr. Puzder believes that significant minimum wage increases could hurt small businesses and lead to job losses. Puzder has been a vocal opponent of the $15 minimum wage, indicating that an increase that large would have a negative impact on businesses and workers. Puzder recently suggested on Fox Business that he could be open to a more modest increase such as $9 an hour, stating that the reduced amount wouldn’t have as great an impact on jobs. In October 2014, Puzder wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal advocating against an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10, a proposal backed by President Obama at the time. In an April 2016 interview, Puzder stated that businesses will move out of [California if the $15 minimum wage goes into effect], marginally profitable businesses will close, and businesses that manage to survive will more efficiently manage their labor by reducing hours to the bare minimum, automating as many positions as they possibly can, and raising prices as high as the market will bear.
Overtime Regulations
Mr. Puzder has argued that the Obama administration’s recent rule on expanding eligibility for overtime pay diminishes opportunities for workers. In May 2016, Mr. Puzder authored a blog post for Forbes titled, “The Harsh Reality of Regulating Overtime Pay”. The post reflected Puzder’s views against the White-Collar Overtime Regulations stating that the overtime rule devalues “career progression and forces some businesses to turn entry-level management careers with salaries and performance-based bonuses into hourly jobs to ensure they don’t get dinged with unexpected and excessive overtime costs.”
NLRB’s Joint Employer Analysis
Puzder is on record strongly opposing the NLRB’s joint employer analysis, which found that employees of McDonald’s franchisees were jointly employed by the franchisor as well as the franchisee. Under that doctrine, large companies that have franchises or hire other companies as contractors are more likely to be held liable for violations of employment laws by those contractors or franchisees. Parent companies typically argue that they have no legal responsibility in these cases.
Given his public statements and past practices, Puzder will approach his position at the Department of Labor with a desire to reduce government regulation on the workforce. While experts can only guess the outcome, it can be safe to say that the labor department will look very different in 2017 as opposed to the cabinet under previous labor secretary, Thomas Perez.
Source(s): nytimes.com; npr.org; lexology.com
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