12.08.16

By: The Editorial Board
Source: New York Times

Andrew Puzder Is the Wrong Choice for Labor Secretary

Working in fast-food is no picnic. The industry is infamous for grindingly low pay and labor law violations. Yet Andrew Puzder, the chief executive of the company that operates Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, has been chosen by President-elect Donald Trump as labor secretary.

Here is the record at those restaurants. When the Obama Labor Department looked at thousands of complaints involving fast-food workers, it found labor law violations in 60 percent of the investigations at Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, usually for failure to pay the minimum wage or time and a half for overtime.

The central problem for workers today is persistently low pay, even at profitable companies with highly paid executives. Mr. Puzder, however, has been adamantly opposed to a meaningful increase in the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour. Mr. Trump has said he could stomach an increase to $10, which is still abysmal. Ideally, a labor secretary, who is supposed to have a deeper understanding of this issue, would push for much more. But Mr. Puzder has said that a big raise would mean fewer jobs for workers starting out. Even if that was true, and the evidence suggests otherwise, there are millions more who would benefit from raising the minimum wage.

Mr. Puzder has also been a scathing critic of efforts by the Obama administration to update the rules for overtime-pay eligibility, which have not been fully adjusted for inflation since the mid-1970s. His argument boils down to an assertion that employees prefer a low salary and the “prestige” of a managerial title — even though they would be entitled to overtime if they remained hourly employees. His opposition to the new overtime rules is especially troubling given that it would be his task as labor secretary to defend the rules, which have been challenged in court.

Mr. Puzder has also blamed the Affordable Care Act for causing a “restaurant recession.” There is no evidence that health care reform has harmed job growth, and there is certainly no evidence of a restaurant recession.

Mandatory sick leave has been criticized by Mr. Puzder as well. He says it would be an undue burden on businesses. Yet in all other advanced economies, paid sick days, paid parental leave and similar policies are rightly seen as investments in human capital, as necessary as investments in plants and equipment.

For Mr. Puzder, being pro-business seems to mean being anti-worker. That makes him the wrong choice for labor secretary.