Jan 2018

Civil penalties for violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards and regulations have increased to adjust for inflation. In a Federal Register notice issued January 2, 2018, the U.S. Department of Labor increased civil penalties for a variety of regulated areas, such as Immigration, Child Labor, Wage and Hour, MSHA, and OSHA. Beginning in January 2017, OSHA is allowed an annual inflation increase that will be calculated on the Consumer Price Index pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 (Inflation Adjustment Act). The Inflation Adjustment Act requires the department to annually adjust its civil monetary penalty levels for inflation no later than January 15 of each year. This provides a cost-of-living formula for adjustment of the civil penalties. Accordingly, this rule sets forth the Department of Labor’s 2018 annual adjustments for inflation to its civil monetary penalties.

OSHA penalties for other-than-serious, serious and failure to abate violations increased by $319 from $12,615 per violation to $12,934 per violation. The penalty for willful and repeat violations increased from $126,749 to $129,336, an increase of $2,587. The new penalty increase became effective January 2, 2018 and will apply to any citations issued from that date through the remainder of 2018.

The 2018 maximum penalties are as follows:

Other-than-Serious: $12,934
Serious: $12,934
Repeat: $129,336
Willful: $129,336

The penalty increase applies to Federal OSHA states; however, OSHA expects that states operating their own occupational safety and health program will align penalty structures with Federal OSHA so that such programs are equally effective as Federal OSHA.

Stephen A. Burt, B.S., M.F.A.
Chair, Government Affair Committee