Penalties for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) are increasing for 2024. In 2015, Congress passed a law requiring the DOL to adjust its civil monetary penalties for inflation each year in order “to improve the effectiveness of civil monetary penalties and to maintain their deterrent effect.” Following this law, the DOL has increased by three percent, the civil money penalties for violations of the employment laws it is responsible for enforcing.
These increased penalties apply to any penalties assessed after January 15, 2024, as follows:
| Law | Type of Violation | Maximum Penalty |
| Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) | FMLA posting requirement | $211 |
| Fair Labor Standard Act | Violation of the prohibition against keeping employee tips | $1,373 |
| Repeated or willful violations of the minimum wage and overtime provisions | $2,451 | |
| Child labor violations | $15,629 | |
| Child labor violations that cause serious injury or death | $71,031 | |
| Willful or repeated child labor violations that cause serious injury or death | $142,062 | |
| Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) | Serious and other-than-serious violations and posting-requirement violations | $16,131 |
| Willful violations and repeated violations | $161,323 | |
| Failure to stop violations | $16,131 per day |
Next Steps
To avoid costly penalties employers should audit their wage and hour practices, including confirming adherence to minimum wage and overtime requirements, child labor laws, and proper classification of non-exempt and exempt employees. Employers should also audit their leave process and practices, including confirming that applicable notices explaining rights and responsibilities under the FMLA have been posted and are being provided to eligible employees. Lastly, employers should ensure that they are reviewing and adjusting their workplace safety practices to comply with OSHA standards including implementing appropriate workplace safety programs and proper channels for employees to report unsafe working conditions.
To ensure compliance with all applicable laws, multistate employers must be aware of applicable state or local wage and hour, leave, and workplace safety laws which may have additional requirements.
How HR Works Can Help
HR Works conducts an assessment based on federal and state employment regulations and human resources best practices to verify that proper controls, policies, and procedures are in place. This process is a systematic, objective tool that evaluates the regulatory and policy compliance of your organization’s human resource department, as well as processes and best practices. The HR Works Human Resource Assessment will specifically address affirmative action, equal employment opportunity, non-discrimination, wage and hour, benefits and leave, training and development, employee relations, and other HR compliance-related topics, such as Form I-9 and federal and state recordkeeping requirements.
You may contact us for HR solutions by calling us toll-free at 1-877-219-9062 or visiting our website.
