by Brianna Crandall — August 12, 2016 — The U.S. Department of Labor recently announced two interim final rules to adjust its civil monetary penalty amounts for inflation based on the last time each penalty was increased. The Department will accept public comments for 45 days to inform the publication of any final rule.
The first rule will cover the vast majority of penalties assessed by the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, and Wage and Hour Division.
The second rule will be issued jointly with the Department of Homeland Security to adjust penalties associated with the H-2B temporary guest worker program.
The new civil monetary penalty amounts are applicable only to civil penalties assessed after August 1, 2016, whose associated violations occurred after November 2, 2015.
The rules published under the 2015 law will modernize some penalties that have long lost ground to inflation, such as OSHA’s maximum penalties, which have not been raised since 1990 and will increase by 78 percent. The top penalty for serious violations will rise from $7,000 to $12,471. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations will increase from $70,000 to $124,709.
A Fact Sheet on DOL’s interim rule is available online, as is a list of each agency’s individual penalty adjustments.
