On Monday night, Puzder tweeted, "I am looking forward to my hearing."

An inquiry as to reports of Puzder's withdrawal was not answered by the Trump transition team before publication.

Two surveys explore CKE Restaurant employee satisfaction

Puzder has been CEO of CKE Restaurants, which owns Carl's Jr. and Hardees fast food franchises, since 2000.

Announcement of his nomination provoked immediate skepticism from Sen. Patty Murray, D-WA, ranking member of the HELP committee. Puzder will need the support of a majority of members on the HELP committee to be considered for a full vote on the Senate floor, where he will also need a simple majority for confirmation. There are 12 Republicans and 11 Democrats on the HELP committee.

Murray and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, who is also on the HELP committee, have written Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, urging him to fulfill a Freedom of Information Act request from the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank, relating to all information on investigations into labor infractions at CKE Restaurants.

Last week, Warren heard testimony from three former employees of CKE Restaurants, who alleged unfair labor practices ranging from unpaid hours worked and a lack of break time to a lack of maternity leave. Each witness described conditions perpetuated by understaffing and overworked employees.

During the forum, Warren noted the results of a survey of more than 500 CKE Restaurant employees conducted by Restaurant Opportunities Center United, which advocates for higher wages and improved working conditions in the restaurant industry and is said to be aligned with several labor unions.

The survey, which was conducted via social media, showed one-third of employee respondents claimed to have worked extra hours without pay, and more than two-thirds of surveyed women have experienced unwanted sexual advances in the workplace.

Since last week's forum, the veracity of ROCU's data has been called into question

Trey Kovacs, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think tank that advocates for free market economic policies, said ROCU's survey results are skewed by bias and questionable methodology.

"The main problem with the ROCU survey is that they reached out to former and current employees on social media," Kovacs told BenefitsPro.

Not only were disgruntled employees more likely to respond, but ROCU could not verify if respondents were even employees of CKE Restaurant franchises, said Kovacs.

"It's not surprising the survey produced the results that ROCU wanted," said Kovacs.

"There is an obvious coordinated campaign between Democrats and labor unions to discredit a Labor nominee that does not have a labor union background and who will not have the union bias we saw with the Obama administration's nominees to the Labor Department. Their interest is to derail the confirmation of someone that won't promote unions at the expense of workers and employees," he added.

Results from a second survey sponsored by the Employment Policies Institute showed high levels of job satisfaction among workers at Carl's Jr. and Hardees restaurants. 

The EPI is a non-profit that advocates for job growth in the restaurant industry and is said to be aligned with a marketing and lobbying group for industry interests.

EPI conducted 242 phone interview with current employees over a three day period: 92 percent of respondents, who were not asked to give their name, said the restaurants were a great place to work; 93 percent of female respondents said they feel safe and respected at work.

The results of the EPI survey were not introduced in the forum hosted by Sen. Warren.