In the final days of the Obama administration, the Department of Labor and the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) updated the penalties for employment law violations.
The new penalties cover violations in 2017 involving the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), among others.
According to the human resources publication HR Morning, the penalty for violating the posting requirement of the FMLA goes up a mere three dollars, from $163 per violation to $166 each. The posting requirement, the Labor Department says, is pretty simple: employers have to display a poster summarizing FMLA and informing workers of how a complaint can be filed.
Posters can be downloaded at no cost at the department’s website.
The penalty for not providing benefits summaries and coverage under ERISA goes from $1,087 to $1,105. And for those employers who don’t inform retirement plan participants of automatic contribution changes, the penalty goes from $1,632 to $1,659.
The fine for not informing employees of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) goes from $110 last year to $112 this year.
OSHA can now assess penalties for willful or repeated work safety law violations of up to $126,749, an increase of $2,040.
Workers around the nation have reason to be grateful for the protections offered by these laws and agencies.
If you have had FMLA benefits denied, you can contact Alan C. Olson & Associates to discuss your situation and learn more about your options.
