Government Fines Get Inflation Raise Just Like Everything Else
Published Date: 1/10/2025
Rule
Summary
Starting January 15, 2025, the U.S. Department of Labor is raising its civil penalty amounts to keep up with inflation. This means businesses and workers affected by labor laws might face higher fines if they break the rules. These updates help keep penalties fair and effective by matching today’s cost of living.
Analyzed Economic Effects
5 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 5 costs, 0 mixed.
Department-wide penalty increases (2025)
Starting January 15, 2025, the Department of Labor raised civil monetary penalties across its programs to adjust for inflation using a multiplier of 1.02598 (based on the October 2024 CPI-U vs October 2023). The higher penalty amounts apply to any penalties assessed after January 15, 2025, and each penalty was multiplied by 1.02598 and rounded to the nearest dollar.
OSHA State Plans must align penalties
State plans approved by Federal OSHA that cover private-sector employees must increase their maximum and minimum penalty levels to align with Federal OSHA's January 15, 2025 penalty increases. The rule lists 21 states that must increase penalties for private-sector employers; six states that have plans covering only state/local government employees are not required to increase penalties.
Higher OSHA citation and maximum penalty levels
OSHA-related penalty figures were updated for 2025. For example, OSHA penalty lines in Sec. 1903.15 show increases such as $11,524 to $11,823 and larger amounts like $161,323 to $165,514 and $16,131 to $16,550, effective January 15, 2025.
Higher FLSA tip and wage-violation fines
Penalties for tip retention and related FLSA wage violations were raised for 2025. For example, Sec. 578.3 shows increases from $1,373 to $1,409 for one penalty tier and from $2,451 to $2,515 for another penalty tier, effective January 15, 2025.
Higher penalties for homeworker and child-labor rules
Civil penalty amounts for homeworker violations and child-labor violations were raised for 2025. For homeworkers, Sec. 530.302 shows a top penalty per affected homeworker updated to $1,313. For child-labor provisions, Sec. 570.140 and Sec. 579 amended amounts include increases such as $15,629 to $16,035 and $71,031 to $72,876, effective January 15, 2025.
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