Donald Trump loves fast food . The 45th president has no problem wolfing down a Quarter Pounder or digging his way through a bucket of KFC. Great stuff , he once called the cheap, greasy fare.
Six months into Trumps presidency, the fast-food industry has plenty of reason to love him back.
The oil and gas sector, coal producers and for-profit colleges are all clear winners in the Trump teams mission to deconstruct the administrative state . But so far, fast food, retail and other lower-wage industries have benefited as much as anyone from the administrations great regulatory rollback.
Lobbyists for restaurants, hotels and other franchised businesses spent the last several years fighting the Obama administration on one regulation after another. But the new White House occupant has heard their grievances, making industry-friendly changes to employment laws and how theyre enforced. Thats included abandoning Obamas overtime reforms, shying away from a minimum wage raise, and limiting whos considered an employer under the law all of which have a disproportionate effect on lower-wage, labor-intensive fields like fast food.
All told, the new administration has given McDonalds and its friends plenty to cheer about.
The early signs are that it can be more like night and day in terms of approach, said Matt Haller, senior vice president at the International Franchise Association, an industry group representing franchisers, including McDonalds. We just want regulations that are fair and reasonable and very clear.
The previous White House viewed regulation as a means to lift up workers at the bottom of the economic ladder, particularly folks doing low-paid service work like fast food and hospitality. Hence their push for a higher mandated wage floor, expanded overtime protections and aggressive enforcement of wage and hour laws. Like Obama, Trump speaks often of forgotten workers whose pay has stagnated, but so far his prescription for improving their lot mainly involves unfettering their employers.
The early signs are that it can be more like night and day in terms of approach.
- Matt Haller, senior vice president at the International Franchise Association
That shouldnt come as a surprise for a president who made his fortune in hotels and went on to nominate a burger chain executive to be the countrys top workplace watchdog. (Andrew Puzder, the former CEO of Hardees and Carls Jr., ended up withdrawing his controversial nomination.) Still, the degree to which the administration is taking the reins off employers has distressed past officials who took a more aggressive tack.
Its the combination of these policies thats deeply troubling, said David Weil, who led the Labor Departments Wage and Hour Division under Obama. I see very little evidence that they are doing anything to address the needs of working people who have been left behind for a long time.
While he was in office, Weil tried to steer the agencys investigations toward the industries where he saw the most vulnerable workers fast food, sit-down restaurants, hotels and motels, janitorial companies and so forth. A Labor Department spokesman said the agency under Trump still carries out what it calls targeted enforcement programs. But pressed on whether they were targeting the same low-wage fields as before, the spokesman declined to say.
Some of the changes under Trump have little practical impact, but speak volumes about the administrations peculiar form of populism.
Employers in food and hospitality were apoplectic over the Obama administrations view on joint employment : the idea that more than one entity might be responsible when a worker gets injured or shorted on pay. The Obama administration put companies on notice that they, too, could be responsible for abuses against workers who are technically employed by temp firms and contractors. Fast-food brands like McDonalds recoiled at the idea they might be as liable for workplace violations as the franchisees who operate McDonalds restaurants.
After Trumps second pick for labor secretary, Alexander Acosta, assumed office in April, one of the first steps the agency took was to rescind the guidance on joint employment issued under Obama. Speaking to a retail lobby last month, Vice President Mike Pence proudly noted the change , drawing applause.
In another early move, the Labor Department brought back what are known as opinion letters. When employers are sued for allegedly not paying overtime or the minimum wage, they can ask the Labor Department to pen one of these letters in their defense, to be used in court. Weil likens them to a get-out-of-jail-free card for employers, and the Obama administration did not issue them. Trumps Labor Department, however, has trumpeted their return .
Trump also rescinded an executive order from Obama that would have made it harder for firms to secure federal contracts if they have a documented history of wage theft. Obamas order was the result of a campaign by fast-food workers who had been shorted on their pay while working on federal properties. (Two other orders from Obama one raising the minimum wage for federal contractors and another mandating sick leave for them have so far survived this administration.)
Other changes on the employment front are far more significant. The Obama administration tried to reform the nations overtime rules and guarantee more workers time and a half pay when they work more than 40 hours in a week. The share of salaried employees who are protected by overtime law has dropped off a cliff since the 1970s. The changes the Obama administration made would have extended overtime rights to 4 million additional workers, according to the previous White House.
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