U.S. DOL Announces New Rules To Adjust Civil Penalties for Inflation

U.S. DOL Announces New Rules

To Adjust Civil Penalties for Inflation

In response to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment and Improvements Act of 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor on June 30, 2016 announced two interim final rules to adjust penalties for inflation based on the last time each penalty was increased. According to the announcement, the first rule will cover the vast majority of penalties assessed by the department's Employee Benefits Security Administration, Mine Safety and Health Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Workers' Compensation Programs, and Wage and Hour Division. The second rule will be issued jointly with the Department of Homeland Security to adjust penalties associated with the H-2B temporary guest worker program. The final rules must be published by July 1, 2016. Public comments will be accepted for 45 days thereafter.The new penalty amounts are applicable only to civil penalties assessed after Aug. 1, 2016, whose associated violations occurred after Nov. 2, 2015.The fact sheet may be found at:  https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/2016-inflation-factsheet.pdfThe penalty inflation adjustments may be found at:  https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/2016-inflation-penalty-chart.pdfThe DOL also published a document of frequently asked questions with responses which can be found at:  https://www.dol.gov/sites/default/files/2016-inflation-faq.pdf