The chief executive of CKE Holdings, which owns two burger chains, is President-elect Donald Trump’s selection to run the Labor Department. Andrew Puzder is “an outspoken critic of raising the minimum wage, the Affordable Care Act and ‘nanny state’ regulations that he believes have slowed growth in the industry – things like proposed soda bans and restrictions,” says NPR.
Puzder was a senior advisor and donor to the Trump campaign, said NPR. Trump said Puzder “will fight to make American workers safer and more prosperous by enforcing fair occupational safety standards and ensuring workers receive the benefits they deserve, and he will save small businesses from the crushing burdens of unnecessary regulations that are stunting job growth and suppressing wages.”
In a radio interview in August, Puzder said proposals for a $15 an hour minimum wage, or more than double the current $7.25 an hour, would result in employers suffering a loss of $6,000 a year per employee. Puzder also has criticized the Obama administration proposal to make an additional 4 million workers eligible for overtime pay.