Complex rules and increased fines
equal compliance headaches for
employers. Let’s take a look at just
a few of the programs, practices
and policies that employers will need
to review before the end of the year.
There’s been a wave of new rules and regulations from Washington in the past year related to human resources compliance and
workforce management. Understanding the rules and how
to comply is critical as fines for non-compliance will increase,
effective August 1st 2016, with some fines increasing up to 75%.
Why the big increase? The Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990 requires agencies to adjust statutory civil
penalties for inflation and to have a deterrent, compliancepromoting effect. On November 2nd 2015, the 2015 Adjustment
Act was signed into law that amended the FCPIA by adding two
requirements:
A onetime catch-up provision to adjust penalties to
account for inflation (increases are capped at 150%
of penalties in effect November 2nd 2015)
Beginning January 15th 2017, agencies must annually
review statutory civil penalties and make adjustments
to account for inflation
IS YOUR WORKPLACE SAFE?
OSHA fines for violations, and failure to meet posting
requirements are increasing from $7,000 to $12,471 per
violation. Failure to abate penalties will increase from $7,000
per days beyond the abatement date to $12,471. Willful and
repeated violations could cost you up to $124,709 per violations.
ARE YOU SURE YOUR I-9 FORMS
ARE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Department
of Justice (DOJ), and Department of Labor (DOL) announced
increased civil fines against employers who commit immigration-related offenses, such as Form I-9 and E-Verify violations,
H-1B visa program violations, unfair immigration employment
practices, and unlawfully employing foreign nationals. For example, the penalties for violating the Form I-9 identity and
employment eligibility verification provisions almost doubled,
going from a range of $110 – $1,100 to now $216 – $2,156. The
penalties for knowingly hiring, recruiting, referring, or retaining an
unauthorized worker increased per unauthorized alien to $539
to $4,313 for the first offense, $4,313 to $10,781 for the second
offense, and $6,469 to $21,563 for subsequent offenses.
ARE YOU FILING REQUIRED FORMS AND
REPORTS FOR RETIREMENT SAVING
PLANS?
Failure to file Form 5500 increases the penalty from $1,100 to
$2,063 per day. Have you provided requested information to the
DOL? That penalty will increase to $147 per day for every day
you fail to furnish information. How about providing required
information to every new hire and each employee? Failure to
provide a Summary of Benefits and Coverage means the penalty
will increase from $1,000 to $1,087 per failure.
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NATDA Magazine www.natda.org