New information from OSHA as they raise civil penalties (85 Fed. Reg. 2,292) by approximately 1.8 percent on January 15, 2020. While the new penalty amounts are not that significant as the previous increases, they still add up. The final rule implements annual inflation adjustments of civil monetary penalties assessed or enforced by OSHA and other agencies within the Department of Labor in 2020, as required by the Inflation Adjustment Act (Pub. L. 114-74). OSHA’s penalty increases for workplace safety and health violations include:
- For a willful violation, in which an employer knowingly failed to comply with an OSHA standard or demonstrated a plain indifference for employee safety, the minimum penalty increases from $9,472 to $9,639 and the maximum penalty increases from $132,598 to $134,937;
- For each repeated violation for an identical or substantially similar violation previously cited by the agency, the penalty ceiling rises from $132,598 to $134,937;
- For each serious violation for workplace hazards that could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm, the maximum penalty increases from $13,260 to $13,494;
- For each other-than-serious violation, the maximum penalty increases from $13,260 to $13,494;
- For each failure to correct violation, the maximum penalty increases from $13,260 to $13,494; and
- For each posting requirement violation, the maximum penalty increases from $13,260 to $13,494.
