President Trump repeatedly promised during his campaign that he would both bring jobs back to America and create more jobs for people to support their families. By nominating Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants (the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s chains), Trump is blatantly betraying his promise to increase good job opportunities for hardworking Americans. Puzder’s track record of limiting workers’ rights, fighting off employment lawsuits, and publicly speaking about his lack of respect for his employees makes him fundamentally unsuitable for this cabinet appointment. Therefore we must take a stand to prevent him from becoming the next Labor Secretary.

Puzder’s nomination has met widespread opposition from unions, nonprofits, and even CKE employees. The AFL-CIO, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, National Partnership for Women and Families, Equal Rights Advocates, American Sustainable Business Council, Farm Forward, and countless others have publicly urged Senators to reject Puzder’s nomination.

According to its website, the mission of the Department of Labor is “To foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.”

• Managers at a Hardee’s restaurant in Alabama scrubbed workers’ hours from the logbooks in order to avoid paying them overtime.
• Hardee’s workers in Pennsylvania were required to pay 10 cents per hour for the privilege of wearing a Hardee’s uniform.
• Workers at a Georgia Hardee’s were told to clock out and sit in the parking lot when business slowed down. When it picked up again, they were told to clock back in and work.
• Managers at a Hardee’s in Missouri had money deducted from their paychecks whenever the cash register came up short.
• Adult workers at a Hardee’s restaurant in Iowa were paid a “sub-minimum wage” that was legal only for minors, while minors worked so late that their hours broke child labor law.

In each of those cases, Labor Department investigators found that Hardee’s restaurants had violated federal wage-and-hour regulations and workers were entitled to thousands of dollars in backpay. Throughout this time, the Hardee’s brand has been overseen by Andrew Puzder, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next labor secretary.

If he is confirmed by the Senate, Puzder would be responsible for enforcing the same worker protections that his company and its franchisees were caught violating, sometimes repeatedly.