Hurting Working People

Andrew Puzder has spent his career standing in the way of working people. The millionaire CEO opposed minimum wage and overtime pay increases. He has attacked rules requiring that working people receive paid sick and family leave to take care of their families. He has complained about having to provide legally-required rest and meal breaks to employees. The Labor Department—the same agency Trump has tapped Puzder to run—found the restaurants he oversees guilty of stealing employee wages in 60 percent of their investigations. Puzder’s CKE Restaurants routinely failed to fairly compensate the people who worked at his restaurants with overtime pay. Also, Puzder laid off and gutted retirement plans for middle-class employees, even as he continued to enjoy major corporate perks, including personal use of the company plane.

Articles | Hurting Working People // Lining His Own Pockets

What It’s Like to Labor for Trump’s Labor Secretary Nominee

January 11, 2017 3:49 pm

Alternet • Sarah Anderson

Roberto Ramirez worked for nearly 18 years for the Carl’s Jr. burger chain in Los Angeles. He started doing food prep and eventually took on three additional jobs: cleaning, cashiering and serving. Little did he know his experience would one day land him in the national political spotlight.

On January 10, Ramirez was a star witness in a sort of shadow hearing on Capitol Hill on the business practices of one Andrew Puzder, the fast-food king who is Donald Trump’s choice for Labor Secretary. Democratic senators tried to give Ramirez and others with experience working for Puzder’s Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s chains an even bigger platform, as witnesses in the nominee’s upcoming confirmation hearing. Republicans nixed that request.

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Shareables | Hurting Working People // Lining His Own Pockets

Andrew Puzder is Paid More in a Day Than His Employees Make in a Year

January 11, 2017 3:23 pm

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Blog Posts | Demeaning Women // Hurting Working People

5 Questions for Trump’s Nominee for Labor Secretary Andrew Puzder

January 10, 2017 4:05 pm

Make It Work

The confirmation hearing for Andrew Puzder, Trump’s choice for Labor secretary, is scheduled for Jan. 17. While I’m sure the CKE Restaurant chief exec would prefer to answer questions like how much bacon he likes on his Double Bacon 3-way Burger™, here are a few of our suggestions for his confirmation hearings to suss out his vision for the workers of America.

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Articles | Hurting Working People

Fast Food CEO Blames Low-Wage Workers for Poverty

January 9, 2017 7:10 pm

Talk Poverty • Deepak Bhargava

To be “poor” in America isn’t an identifying characteristic or a defining trait, like being forgetful or creative or tall.

Being a low-income American comes from being paid a low income.

It seems like a basic point, but it’s one Andy Puzder needs to review. Puzder is CEO of CKE Restaurants, Inc., which employs more than 20,000 people and worldwide owns, operates and franchises more than 3,300 fast food restaurants, including Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. Continue Reading

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Articles | Hurting Working People

Critics say Trump’s likely pick for labor secretary ‘will betray American workers’

January 6, 2017 10:36 pm

Business Insider • Kate Taylor

Workers’ rights advocates say President-elect Donald Trump’s likely appointment of Andrew Puzder to lead the Department of Labor could be a major setback in the fight for higher wages and greater protections for the nation’s most vulnerable workers.

“It’s hard to think of anyone less suited for the job of lifting up America’s forgotten workers — as Trump had campaigned on — than Puzder,” Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project, said in a statement. Continue Reading

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Shareables | Hurting Working People // Lining His Own Pockets

Nearly 60% of Puzder’s Restaurants Have Had at Least One Wage Violation

January 5, 2017 9:56 pm

During the course of 4,000 investigations into the 20 largest fast-food brands carried out by the Department of Labor, only 40% of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. stores were in full compliance with the law. In total, these investigations lead to the discovery of more than 68,000 FLSA violations and some $14 million in back wages recovered for about 57,000 employees.

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Puzder’s CKE Restaurants Faces $2.5 Million in Wage Theft Lawsuits

January 5, 2017 7:26 pm

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Articles | Hurting Working People

Hardee’s Plans Layoffs as Hearing on Puzder Approaches

January 5, 2017 6:54 pm

Bloomberg BNA • Ben Penn

CKE Restaurants Inc., the conglomerate helmed by Labor Secretary-designate Andrew Puzder, notified 51 workers Jan. 3 that they will be laid off in March when the company relocates to Nashville, Tenn., according to a letter obtained by Bloomberg BNA.

A former CKE senior management employee who worked directly with Puzder at earlier stages of the relocation process spoke with Bloomberg BNA on condition of anonymity. The source alleged Puzder kept employees out of the loop when the company in 2011 was being wooed by Texas officials to move to the Lone Star State.

Puzder “never wanted to do any internal messaging about it,” said the former company director. Rather than keep employees informed, “his choice was always: ‘they don’t need to know; they just need to know where to show up to work,’ ” added the source, who was laid off by Puzder several years ago and acknowledged harboring “strong feelings” about the company.