On February 11, the FTC announced adjustments to the maximum civil penalty amounts for violations of 16 provisions of laws it enforces, as mandated by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act. The...more
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
As required under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced, through the Federal Register, increases for penalties under the Immigration Reform & Control Act...more
EPA recently promulgated a final rule (the Rule) adjusting civil penalties issued by the agency for inflation. This action was performed pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by...more
On January 6, 2023, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Final Rule to amend its regulations governing the maximum civil monetary penalties assessable for violations of statutes, rules and orders within...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
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
As a result of the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, higher immigration fines and penalties will go into effect on August 1, 2016. The fines and penalties cover Form I-9 paperwork...more
A little-publicized section of the federal Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 has led to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgating new interim regulations that increase by unprecedented amounts the civil...more
EPA is increasing civil penalties for all statutes it administers that call for the assessment of civil penalties. These increases are not recommendations or proposed statutory amendments, but are the result of perhaps the...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
The EEOC is increasing the penalty for failure to post the required workplace notices under Title VII, the ADA, and GINA by 150 percent. This increase means the maximum penalty for notice violations will increase to $525 per...more
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) published an interim rule (pdf) revising its civil procedure regulations for the assessment of civil penalties for violations of various laws and regulations within the Service’s...more
The EEOC has increased the maximum penalty for employers that violate the posting provisions of Title VII, the Americans with Disability Act ("ADA") and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act ("GINA") from $210 to $525...more
Michael Kinsley once said “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.” And one gaffe that has often been repeated is Speaker Pelosi’s statement from 2010, saying about the Affordable Care Act, “we have to pass the bill so...more