The Department of Labor agencies are raising their maximum fines. We received notice late last week that the Wage and Hour division and OSA were both raising their maximum fines under the indexing provisions in the 2016 Budget act. We had reported a couple years ago that OSHA’s fines had not been increased in nearly 20 yrs. In 2016 those fines took a significant jump. The same rules that gave those increases also provided that from time to time, the agencies could increase their penalties based on inflation.

OSHA and Wage and Hour published new maximum penalties last week. Those penalties rose approximately 2% bringing the maximum fine up to nearly $13,000 for a single serious violation. We have seen significant increases in the fines that have been levied for violations for both Wage and Hour and OSHA divisions of the Department of Labor. These fines are here to stay and we can expect continued high penalties going forward. I’ve had more than one agency administrator feel like their penalties were treated as a cost of doing business and not as a deterrent from future bad behavior. They have the tools to make these hurt.

Lets do everything right…..Therefore these fines won’t affect you. But if they do, we can help minimize the damage. Give us a call before you settle and we’ll help you through the process.

DSF