Heads-up, Transportation Compliance Personnel: the New FMCSA Fines for 2017 Are Now in Effect
Three and half months after the deadline, the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has increased its trucking regulation violation penalties for for 2017. The changes went into effect on April 22nd.
If you follow our blog closely, you may remember our article last month about how OSHA and the FTC had raised their maximum fines to account for inflation. In that post, we explained how the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015 requires US agencies to increase their penalties in conjunction with the cost of living each year.
Fortunately, since the FMCSA is no longer playing “catch-up” like those agencies were (before the passage of the new law, the FTC and OSHA hadn’t changed their fines in years), the penalties have only marginally increased in 2017. Specifically, the FMCSA has multiplied all fines by roughly 1.016%, in accordance with recommendations by the White House. That means the new fine on companies whose drivers commit recordkeeping violations, for instance, has risen by $59—from $3,626 to $3,685.
For a complete list of the new penalty amounts, click here.
It’s important for compliance professionals to pay attention to this news, of course, but the small increases shouldn’t really matter. Why? Because your job is to make sure your company avoids fines and federal action in the first place.
Now is a great time to review your compliance management system to ensure it adequately addresses regulatory risk. If you have any questions about these fines—or any regulatory matter—make sure to get in touch with one of our compliance experts.
