Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump’s nominee for labor secretary, is one of corporate America’s foremost spokesmen on labor issues. As chief executive of the CKE fast-food chain that owns Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s, Puzder has lambasted proposals to raise the minimum wage, to require rest breaks and to extend overtime pay to more workers. He has also denounced Obamacare, a program that has made health insurance available to millions of low-wage and moderate-income workers.



The Senate health, education, labor and pensions committee will hold its repeatedly delayed confirmation on Puzder’s nomination on Thursday. Here are some questions that the committee’s members should ask.

Question one

Mr Puzder, you have been named to run an agency that was split off from the commerce department in 1913 to give American workers a voice in the cabinet. Considering that you have long been a strong voice for business, opposing many proposals to lift workers, could you truly serve as a voice for workers in the cabinet or would you in effect just be a second commerce secretary who advocated for business?

When Trump nominated you, his transition team said: “Andy Puzder has firsthand experience saving and creating thousands of jobs, and he has an extensive record of fighting for workers.” But since you took the helm of CKE in 2000, the chain has reduced the number of outlets in the US to 3,000, from 3,500, while focusing its expansion efforts overseas.

Question two

Mr Puzder, since these numbers indicate that you have significantly reduced the number of CKE jobs in the US since becoming CEO, can you please explain why you should be considered a job creator?

The law that created the labor department states that its mission is to “promote and develop the welfare of working people, to improve their working conditions, and to advance their opportunities for profitable employment.” Many Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s employees complain of low wages and scant benefits, and your company recently eliminated its employer match to its employees’ 401(k) plans.

Protesters rally against labor nominee Andrew Puzder outside of a Hardee’s restaurant on 13 February. Photograph: Jeff Curry/Getty Images

Question three

Mr Puzder, considering that CKE is a low-wage, low-benefits employer and that you have repeatedly fought against legislative proposals to lift wages, can you explain how you have worked – and how you would work – to promote the welfare of working people and improve their working conditions?

The US Department of Labor has found one or more wage and hour violations at nearly 60% of the Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s restaurants it has inspected, according to Bloomberg BNA. That is a dismayingly high percentage although CKE’s percentage of violations was lower than that of most major fast-food companies. Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s workers have talked of – and numerous lawsuits have pointed to – egregious wage and hour violations at CKE restaurants: workers being cheated out of overtime, managers erasing hours employees have worked, employees being ordered to work during mandated rest breaks, employees being ordered to clock out but remain on the premises in case they’re needed if more customers come in.

Question four

Trump's cabinet Confirmed

James Mattis (Defense), John Kelly (Homeland Security), Rex Tillerson (State), Elaine Chao (Transportation), Nikki Haley (United Nations), Betsy DeVos (Education), Jeff Sessions (Attorney General), Tom Price (Health and Human Services), Steve Mnuchin (Treasury), David Shulkin (Veterans Affairs), Scott Pruitt (Environmental Protection Agency), Wilbur Ross (Commerce), Ryan Zinke (Interior), Rick Perry (Energy), Ben Carson (Housing and Urban Development), Sonny Perdue (Agriculture), Alexander Acosta (Labor) Awaiting Senate approval

Linda McMahon (Small Business Association), Mick Mulvaney (Office of Management and Budget director), Robert Lighthizer (US trade representative) Withdrawn

Andrew Puzder (Labor) Not yet announced

Council of Economic Advisers chair



Mr Puzder, putting aside the debate over whether a fast-food company should be considered a joint employer of its franchisees, are you and your company partly responsible for the widespread wage and hour violations found at Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s restaurants, including those at your franchisees’ restaurants?

Question five

Mr Puzder, like many fast-food companies, CKE maintains that it is not responsible for wage violations at its franchisees’ restaurants. Can you provide documentation showing that CKE has threatened to discipline or penalize franchisees after they were found to violate wage laws?

A recent article in Bloomberg BusinessWeek quotes you as saying: “More government is not the solution to every problem, it’s the problem to every solution. They punish us for being in business to make a profit.”

Your Twitter feed, too, suggests you have little time for government regulation.



Question six

Mr Puzder, considering this statement and considering the history of wage and hour violations at Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s, why should anyone feel confident that you would carry out one of the labor secretary’s main responsibilities: to vigorously enforce the nation’s wage, hour and occupational safety laws? And will you vigorously enforce the nation’s wage laws against the fast-food industry, which has one of the worst records on compliance?

Question seven

You have repeatedly denounced proposals to raise the minimum wage, but have said that you don’t oppose a “modest” increase in the minimum wage. Mr Puzder, can you tell us what higher federal minimum wage, what dollar level, you would support?



A 2014 federal audit of Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s restaurants in the south-west and midwest found that one in three employees was undocumented, according to a report in the Huffington Post. As a result of that audit, CKE’s franchisee for those regions discharged 1,200 workers.

Question eight

Mr Puzder, did you know that Carl’s Jr and Hardee’s restaurants employed so many undocumented workers, and what steps did you take, both before and after this 2014 audit, to ensure that company-owned and franchisee-owned restaurants comply with laws that prohibit employers from hiring undocumented immigrants?

You have acknowledged having hired an undocumented housekeeper for several years, without knowing that she was undocumented. Putting aside the question of whether she was undocumented, assuming that you thought that she was working legally, you still unlawfully failed to pay required social security and unemployment insurance taxes for her.

Question nine

Mr Puzder, as labor secretary your job will be to enforce the nation’s labor laws, so how do you explain that you unlawfully failed to pay required employment taxes for your housekeeper?

Two-thirds of female fast food workers at restaurants operated by CKE experienced sexual harassment at work, a rate much higher than the industry average, according to a recent advocacy survey.

Your fast-food chain has become well-known for running nearly pornographic ads to attract young male customers, ads that have included Kate Upton, Paris Hilton and a naked Charlotte McKinney.

Question 10

Mr Puzder, given these reports and considering that many people believe that these ads unapologetically treated women as sex objects, can you assure female employees at the labor department and female workers across the US that you will treat women with respect?

You have at times made numerous statements showing contempt for workers in the CKE system. You said, Hardee’s was “hiring the best of the worst. It’s kind of the bottom of the pool.” A recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek article noted that in your first memo to Hardee’s managers, you wrote: “No more people behind the counter unless they have all their teeth.” You also complained to a trade publication about Hardee’s workforce, saying: “You go into a store, and there’s a guy with a dirty shirt who is rude, and then you remodel the store, but the customers still go in and find a guy with a dirty shirt who is rude.”

In an interview last year, you talked almost gleefully about the idea of replacing humans with robots. You said: “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.”



Question 11

Considering that you and the Trump administration boast that you’re a job creator, doesn’t this statement show that you’re happy to be a job destroyer instead of a job creator?

You have at times made numerous statements showing contempt for workers in the CKE system. You said, Hardee’s was “hiring the best of the worst. It’s kind of the bottom of the pool.” A recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek article noted that in your first memo to Hardee’s managers, you wrote: “No more people behind the counter unless they have all their teeth.” You also complained to a trade publication about Hardee’s workforce, saying: “You go into a store, and there’s a guy with a dirty shirt who is rude, and then you remodel the store, but the customers still go in and find a guy with a dirty shirt who is rude.”

Question 12

Mr Puzder, the nation’s labor secretary is supposed to be an advocate for workers, but considering these sneering remarks, can you assure Americans that you view workers with respect?