President-elect Donald Trump has designated Andrew Puzder, CEO of CKE Restaurants Holdings, to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor.
How could he influence business? Most notably he is pro deregulation and has been publically vocal regarding:
- Minimum wage increases detrimentally impacting job growth and entry into the workplace
- Overtime mandates impacting career growth
- The Affordable Care Act and its effect on small businesses
Businesses should expect to see the Labor Department focus on its past regulatory activities and engage in efforts to revisit the recent activities. This also includes new OSHA mandates in the record keeping area, the new fiduciary disclosure rules under ERISA and certainly a review of the Labor Department's role in immigration decisions. Secretary-designate Puzder is a lawyer by training and has spent his corporate career in the fast-food and food franchise area. He should be especially receptive to the impact of regulation on small business. He certainly is aware of the FLSA developments but these aforementioned areas within the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor will certainly demand his attention and that of the other appointees at the Department of Labor.
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