Andrew Puzder, President’s Trump’s pick for Secretary of Labor and the CEO of the fast-food chain that owns Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., has withdrawn his nomination, says The New York Times.
Puzder has faced serious criticism over his labor policies. He has championed automation as a better alternative to dealing with employees, once saying of robots: “They’re always polite, they always upsell, they never take a vacation, they never show up late, there’s never a slip-and-fall, or an age, sex, or race discrimination case.”
And he has long opposed minimum-wage increases, arguing that they lead to job losses and hurt small businesses. But conservatives, including the editors of the National Review and Breitbart News, were disturbed that he had knowingly employed an undocumented worker as a maid in his home, says the Times.
There was additional concern about Puzder’s nomination after the Oprah Winfrey show released a previously un-aired video from the 1980s showing Puzder’s his ex-wife accusing him of physically abusing her. His wife later retracted the accusation, but police records show that law enforcement was called to the couple’s house on a domestic abuse call, says Slate.