AHJ Radar · Mason Mathews Facility Assurance, LLC
OSHA penalties in 2026: what a citation costs
OSHA did not raise its civil penalties for 2026. The 2025 amounts stayed in force because the inflation figure the law uses for the adjustment was never produced. This page gives the amounts, the floor under them, and how an inspector prices a serious violation, from OSHA's own penalty page and its May 2026 memo.
The maximums
| Type of violation | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Serious, other-than-serious, posting requirements | $16,550 per violation |
| Failure to abate | $16,550 per day beyond the abatement date |
| Willful or repeated | $165,514 per violation |
OSHA's page adds that states running their own plans "are required to adopt maximum penalty levels that are at least as effective as Federal OSHA's," and that state plans need not impose monetary penalties on state and local government employers.
Why nothing changed this year
The memo of May 21, 2026 says it in one sentence: "There are no inflation-based increases to OSHA civil penalties for 2026, so 2025 penalty amounts remain in effect for 2026." The annual adjustment is computed from the October consumer price index, and the October 2025 figure was not produced during the federal shutdown. Expect the next adjustment in January 2027 unless OSHA says otherwise.
The floor, and how a serious violation is priced
A citation rarely arrives at the maximum. The memo sets minimums and a gravity scale that an area office applies before any reductions for size, good faith and history.
| Type | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Serious | $1,085 | $16,550 |
| Other-than-serious | $0 | $16,550 |
| Repeat | $4,256 | $165,514 |
| Willful | $11,823 | $165,514 |
| Posting requirements | $0 | $16,550 |
| Serious violation: gravity | Greater probability | Lesser probability |
|---|---|---|
| High severity | $16,550 | $11,823 |
| Medium severity | $14,187 | $9,457 |
| Low severity | $11,823 | $7,093 |
A repeated other-than-serious violation that carried no penalty the first time is priced at $472 for the first repeat, $1,182 for the second and $2,364 for a third.
What this means for a hotel or a condominium
Three things follow from the table. First, the amounts are per violation, and one inspection commonly produces several. Second, failure to abate runs per day, so a citation that is contested and then forgotten is the expensive one. Third, the repeated and willful maximum is ten times the serious maximum, which matters most to a management company whose properties share one employer name. Florida has no state plan, so these federal amounts apply to every Florida property; in the state-plan states the state agency's schedule applies and must be at least this high.
What is not on this page, and why
Penalty reductions for employer size, good faith and history are set out in OSHA's Field Operations Manual and depend on the establishment, so they are not summarized here. State-plan penalty schedules differ and are on each state agency's site. The ten standards OSHA cites most are on their own page.
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