(a) Section 16(e), added to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as
amended, by the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1974, and as further
amended by the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1989, the Omnibus
Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, and the Compactors and Balers Safety
Standards Modernization Act of 1996, provides that--
(1) Any person who violates the provisions of section 12 relating to
child labor, section 13(c)(5), or any regulation issued under those
sections shall be subject to a civil penalty of not to exceed $11,000
for each employee who was the subject of such a violation.
(2) Any person who repeatedly or willfully violates section 6 or 7
shall be subject to a civil penalty of not to exceed $1,000 for each
such violation.
(3) In determining the amount of any penalty under this subsection,
the appropriateness of such penalty to the size of the business of the
person charged and the gravity of the violation shall be considered.
(4) The amount of any penalty under this subsection, when finally
determined, may be--
(i) Deducted from any sums owing by the United States to the person
charged;
(ii) Recovered in a civil action brought by the Secretary in any
court of competent jurisdiction, in which litigation the Secretary shall
be represented by the Solicitor of Labor; or
(iii) Ordered by the court, in an action brought for a violation of
section 15(a)(4) or a repeated or willful violation of section 15(a)(2),
to be paid to the Secretary.
(5) Any administrative determination by the Secretary of the amount
of any penalty under this subsection shall be final, unless within
fifteen days after receipt of notice thereof by certified mail the
person charged with the violation takes exception to the determination
that the violations for which the penalty is imposed occurred, in which
event final determination of the penalty shall be made in an
administrative proceeding after opportunity for hearing in accordance
with section 554 of title 5, United States Code, and regulations to be
promulgated by the Secretary.
(6) Except for civil money penalties collected for violations of
sections 12 and 13(c)(5), sums collected as penalties pursuant to this
section shall be applied toward reimbursement of the costs of
determining the violations and assessing and collecting such penalties
in accordance with the provision of section 2 of an Act entitled ``An
Act to authorize the Department of Labor to make special statistical
studies upon payment of the cost thereof, and for other purposes'' (29
U.S.C. 9a).
(7) Civil penalties collected for violations of section 12 shall be
deposited in the general fund of the Treasury.
(b) The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990
(Pub. L. 101-410), as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of
1996 (Pub. L. 104-134, section 31001(s)), requires that Federal agencies
periodically adjust their civil money penalties for inflation according
to a specified cost-of-living formula. This law requires each agency to
make an initial inflationary adjustment for all covered civil money
penalties, and to make further inflationary adjustments at least once
every four years thereafter. Any increase in the civil money penalty
amount will apply only to violations that occur after the date the
increase takes effect.
(c) This part explains our procedures for issuing a notice of civil
penalty to an employer that has violated section 12 or section 13(c)(5)
of the Act, or any regulation issued under those sections; describes the
types of violations for which we may impose a penalty and the factors we
will consider in assessing the amount of the penalty; outlines the
procedure for a person charged with violations to file an exception to
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the determination that the violations occurred; and summarizes the
methods we will follow for collecting and recovering the penalty.
[40 FR 25792, June 18, 1975, as amended at 56 FR 8679, Feb. 28, 1991; 66
FR 63503, Dec. 7, 2001; 69 FR 75405, Dec. 16, 2004]
