Department of Labor Publishes Rules Implementing New Penalty Fees

On November 2, 2015 Congress passed the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (2015 Inflation Adjustment Act) – as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. The new law directs agencies to adjust their civil monetary penalties for inflation every year.   The Department of Labor has published two interim final rules to adjust its penalties for inflation:  

• One DOL-only rule covering the vast majority of penalties assessed by the Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, Mine Safety & Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs, and Wage and Hour Division; and
•  A second rule jointly with the Department of Homeland Security to adjust the penalties associated with the H-2B temporary guest worker program. 

The rules published under the 2015 Inflation Adjustment Act will modernize some penalties that have long lost ground to inflation: 

• OSHA’s penalties – which have not been raised since 1990 – will increase by 78%, with its top penalty for serious violations rising from $7,000 to $12,471 and its top penalty for willful or repeated violations rising from $70,000 to $124,709. 
• Wage and Hour Division’s penalty for willful violations of the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act will rise from $1,100 to $1,894.

These new civil penalty amounts apply only to civil penalties assessed by the Department after August 1, 2016, whose associated violations occurred after November 2, 2015, the date of enactment of the Inflation Adjustment Act.   Sign up to receive the most up-to-date regulatory and legislative information about specialty imaging.