President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly considering fast-food CEO Andrew Puzder for Labor Secretary.
Citing a transition officer who was not allowed to speak publicly about the process, The New York Times reported that the CEO of CKE Restaurants, a supporter of Trump’s campaign, is “gaining steam as a candidate to become the secretary of labor.”
{mosads}CKE Restaurants is the parent company of burger chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s.
Puzder has been an outspoken critic of President Obama’s controversial rule expanding overtime pay, claiming it will force employers to offset costs by making cuts elsewhere.
The rule, which mandates overtime pay to most salaried workers who earn less than $47,476 annually, is temporarily on hold by Texas court order while businesses and a group of 21 state attorneys challenge the dramatic increase in court.
The salary cut-off for overtime pay now stands at $23,660.
In an op-ed that ran in Forbes in May, Puzder said the rule adds to the “extensive regulatory maze the Obama Administration has imposed on employers.”
“One can only wonder when the advocates of progressive economics will realize that, despite their best efforts, you cannot regulate your way to economic prosperity,” he wrote.
Puzder has a law degree from Washington University School of Law and worked as a commercial trial lawyer in St. Louis until 1991, when he moved to California to be Carl Karcher’s personal attorney, according to his company bio.
Karcher, the founder of Carl’s Jr., was having serious financial difficulties at the time and, to help him avoid bankruptcy, Puzder founded CKE Restaurants.
Puzder served as an economic adviser to Mitt Romney’s campaign for president and also as a delegate in the 2012 Republican National Convention, where he chaired the platform committee’s Sub-Committee on the Economy, Job Creation and the Debt.