Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor published its listing of annual increases for 2025. Included in this list are higher penalties for OSHA workplace safety violations for employers. While these increases are in line with...more
Consistent with the 2015 Inflation Adjustment Act, which provides for the annual increase in penalties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act by the previous year’s rate of inflation, the maximum OSHA penalties for...more
If you weren’t already concerned about the rate of inflation, its effect has produced another blow in the OSHA world. Under the terms of the 2015 Inflation Adjustment Act, the U.S. Department of Labor has once again made the...more
As we start the new year, following the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act which Congress passed in 2015, OSHA announced revised increased maximum penalty levels effective January 15, 2020:-...more
In 2015, Congress passed a law called the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. It appears that the word “Improvements” may have been added in an unsuccessful attempt to make the law sound...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has published a final rule that increases civil monetary penalties the DOL assesses and enforces, as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 and the Federal...more
On January 23, 2019, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) increased the maximum civil penalties that employers can receive for health and safety violations by 2.5 percent to account for inflation....more
Employers will be facing higher penalties from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“Fed-OSHA”) in 2019. On January 15, 2019, Fed-OSHA announced that it plans to increase the maximum penalty an employer...more
Administrative Law Judges are increasingly exercising their discretion to waive mandatory settlement conferences for Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) citation contests with large penalties. The increased...more
As of January 2, 2018, civil penalties for workplace safety and health violations issued by federal OSHA increased again by 2% across the board. Although a 2% increase does not shock the system, this increase is part of a...more
Federal OSHA increased its maximum penalties last summer for the first time since 1990. The increase occurred pursuant to a new law requiring federal agencies to adjust penalties to account for inflation. However, the OSH...more
The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (“2015 Act”) became law in November 2015. The stated purpose of the 2015 Act is “to improve the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: The DOL has published its 2017 OSHA civil penalties. We had blogged previously about the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2016 adjustments to the maximum civil penalty dollar amounts for OSHA...more
In August 2016 we reported on the substantial increases to OSHA fines for violations of safety and health regulations as part of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015. (Sec. 701 of...more
OSHA civil penalties jumped dramatically on August 1, 2016, creating a daunting burden for employers. Last year, Congress enacted the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act 0f 2015. The Act directed federal...more
On August 1, 2016, maximum civil penalties imposed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) increased significantly pursuant to interim final rules these...more
Time to Pay More: EPA Increases Maximum Civil Penalties - Remember the days when the maximum civil penalty EPA could assess for a violation of environmental law was $25,000 per day? Those days disappeared 26 years ago...more
On July 1, 2016, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) increased the maximum penalties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act by about 78 percent to account for inflation. Acting under authority conferred...more
This past November, Congress passed a budget that included legislation requiring federal agencies to adjust their civil penalties to account for inflation. In response, the Department of Labor (DOL) is adjusting penalties for...more
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published an interim final rule on July 1, 2016, that increases the maximum penalties for citations by more than 75 percent. This is the first increase in OSHA...more
Effective August 1, OSHA, EPA and the Department of the Interior, among other federal agencies, are raising the ranges of civil penalties assessed under their respective programs. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation...more
On June 30, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an Interim Final Rule to implement the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Improvements Act passed last Fall as part of the highly publicized “Bipartisan Budget...more
Employers around the country are busy trying to keep up with the fast and furious rule-making from the Department of Labor. From OSHA reporting requirements, the persuader and fiduciary rules and the new overtime regulations,...more
This summer, many federal agencies increased civil monetary penalties as much as 150 percent in response to new legislation mandating that federal agencies "catch up" with inflation and remedy past government failures to...more
Which do you want to hear first? Let’s go with the good news. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced yesterday that it is delaying enforcement of the anti-retaliation provisions of its new “Reasonable...more