Employers who skirt employment law will find themselves facing harsher penalties, says a filing by the Federal Register, after the Department of Labor has increased penalties for violations.
HRDive reports that employers will be on the hook for an average of 2 percent more across the board for any violations, according to a Bloomberg Law report, with maximum penalty increases for violating minimum-wage and overtime rules increasing from $1,925 to $1,964, while child labor laws violations have risen from $12,278 to $12,529 and anti-retaliation and discrimination laws under visa programs are up from $20,111 to $20,521.
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Those who endanger children will face some of the stiffest penalties, with increases for workplace injuries or deaths of child workers up from $55,808 to $56,947, while the willful replacement of American workers under the H-1B visa program will pay $52,641, up from $51,588. The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 requires government agencies to adjust maximum penalties for inflation.
The DOL is still waiting for multiple vacancies to be filled by the administration, although at the moment it's plowing ahead with enforcement of federal labor laws. But under Trump, it's not clear whether its direction will remain the same as it was under Obama, and a number of actions so far imply that change is in the wind.
It already seems to be shifting gears from enforcement to prevention, visible in the more lenient settlement agreement announcements that have been announced since he took office.
In addition, more business-friendly actions have already been carried out under the Republican administration, with the rescission of Obama-era guidance on joint employment by the labor secretary and the proposal to rescind 2011 tip pool regulations in favor of employers.
The report adds that the DOL also has plans to issue replacement overtime rules, and might find itself faced with the need to deal with independent contractor issues arising out of the growth of the gig economy.
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