OSHA Increases Civil Penalties by 2.5% for 2019
Washington D.C. –Effective January 23, 2019, OSHA has increased its civil penalties by approximately 2.5% with a new maximum single-violation penalty for willful and repeat violations of $132,598.
The increased penalty was published in the Federal Register, took effect immediately on January 23, 2019, and applies to all violations occurring on or after that date. This penalty increase is meant to adjust for inflation as required by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 2015. In 2016, this piece of legislation initially raised civil penalties by 78% – a dramatic change after 26 years without a penalty increase.
New maximum penalty amounts adjusted for inflation as of Jan. 23, 2019 are as follows:
Type of Violation | Penalty |
Serious Other-Than-Serious Posting Requirements |
$13,260 per violation |
Failure to Abate | $13,260 per day beyond the abatement date |
Willful or Repeated | $132,598 per violation |
The new penalty levels were not expected to take effect until the partial government shutdown ended but instead were published despite the shutdown. The U.S. Department of Labor is required to annually adjust its civil money penalty levels for inflation no later than January 15 of each year, under 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).
Read more: OSHA’s January 23, 2019 Enforcement Memo, “Implementation of the 2019 Annual Adjustment Pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvement Act of 2015.”