Trump to tap fast food restaurant CEO Andy Puzder for labor secretary

Andy Puzder.
(Image credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Dream Foundation)

President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for labor secretary is reportedly Andy Puzder, CEO of the company that owns burger joints Hardee's and Carl's Jr. Puzder has been an advocate for rolling back regulations in the restaurant industry, and he has expressed opposition to the Affordable Care Act and raising the federal minimum wage. He has also shown an interest in "employee-free" restaurants, because machines, unlike people, "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," Puzder said, per Business Insider.

A spokesman for the International Franchise Association, a trade group for which Puzder is on the board, said Puzder will "likely call for tools such as an overhaul of the tax system" as opposed to "focusing on stepping up workplace regulation to create jobs and higher wages," The Wall Street Journal reported.

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