Civil penalties levied by the Department of Labor (DOL), including those for the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, have increased in 2018 under a Final Rule published last week in the Federal Register. Such fines are adjusted annually pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015. The Final Rule is effective on January 2, 2018 and will apply to violations occurring after November 2, 2015 for which a penalty is assessed after January 2, 2018. Fines for each agency within the DOL will increase by slightly more than two percent (2%). The Final Rule contains a listing of each agency and the fines to be associated with each violation. Read the memo.
