By: Andrew J. Sommer

President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Andrew Puzder as his Secretary of Labor, according to Trump’s transition team. Puzder is the CEO of CKE Holdings, the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, and has been a vocal critic of the Obama Labor Department’s overtime regulations and efforts to increase the federal minimum wage. As labor secretary, Puzder will oversee the federal apparatus that investigates violations of minimum wage, overtime and workplace safety laws and regulations.

An increase in the federal minimum wage and an expansion in overtime eligibility have been priorities for the outgoing Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez. On Perez’s watch, the DOL has issued new overtime regulations increasing the minimum salary threshold level in order to qualify an employee as exempt from overtime. Puzder has denounced this new overtime rule, the status of which is presently uncertain after a Texas federal court temporarily blocked…