OSHA Penalties by State (2026)

The federal OSHA maximums are the same in every state where federal OSHA enforces — $16,550 per serious or other-than-serious violation and $165,514 per willful or repeated violation in 2026. What changes by state is who enforces. 27 states run their own OSHA-approved State Plan, and a State Plan may set its own penalty schedule as long as it stays "at least as effective" as federal OSHA. Most adopt the federal amounts, but California and Oregon can fine more on at least one class, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, South Carolina and Tennessee still cap serious violations at $7,000 and willful or repeated ones at $70,000 because they never adopted OSHA's post-2016 increases, and New Mexico, Utah and Virginia publish caps just below the federal amounts.

An OSHA State Plan is a state-run occupational safety and health program approved and monitored by federal OSHA. There are two kinds. 21 states run a plan that covers private-sector AND government employers — if you build in one of those (for example California, Michigan, or North Carolina), your company answers to the state agency, not federal OSHA. 6 states run a plan that covers only state and local government workers; a private construction employer in those states remains under federal OSHA. The remaining 24 states plus DC are under federal OSHA directly.

For private-sector employers, only California and Oregon. California's Cal/OSHA (8 CCR §336) can assess up to $25,000 for a serious violation — well above the federal $16,550 — though its willful/repeat cap of $162,851 is actually just under the federal $165,514. Oregon OSHA (Bulletin 1-2026) sets a serious maximum of $17,004 and a willful/repeat maximum of $170,046, and expressly sets higher statutory penalty ranges when a serious, willful or repeated violation causes or contributes to an employee's death — a serious violation runs $21,765 to $54,412, a repeat or willful one $54,412 to $272,058.

Several State Plans never adopted OSHA's post-2016 inflation increases, so their maximums are well below federal. Michigan (MCL 408.1035), Kentucky (KRS 338.991), Indiana (IC 22-8-1.1-27.1), Tennessee (TCA §50-3-403) and South Carolina (S.C. Code §41-15-320) still cap serious violations at $7,000 and willful/repeat at $70,000 — well under half the federal figures. Utah ($16,131 / $161,323 since May 7, 2025), New Mexico ($16,071 / $160,727), Virginia ($16,287 / $162,849) and Vermont (statutory base $12,675 / $126,749, readjusted by VOSHA each year) also cap below federal on their own adjustment schedules. Because a State Plan must stay 'at least as effective' as federal OSHA, these caps can be raised under federal pressure, so confirm the current figure with the state agency.

Six states run a State Plan that covers public employees only, so private-sector construction employers there are under federal OSHA: Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York. (The U.S. Virgin Islands also runs a public-only plan.) This is the distinction most penalty tables get wrong — being a 'State Plan state' does not mean a private contractor is under the state agency. Massachusetts is the newest of these, approved by OSHA in August 2022.

The published figures are maximums. A real citation begins with a Gravity-Based Penalty — severity times probability — which for a 2026 serious violation ranges from $7,093 to $16,550. OSHA then applies serial reductions: up to 70% for small employer size (1–25 employees, per the July 2025 update), up to 25% for good faith (an effective written safety program), and 20% for a clean five-year history. There is no state or industry multiplier in the federal calculation. A repeat citation is different: the Field Operations Manual multiplies its gravity-based penalty by 2 for a first repeat or 5 for a later one at 250 or fewer employees, and by 5 or 10 above that, within the $165,514 cap.

No. The federal 2026 maximums are unchanged from 2025 because the required inflation adjustment was not published (OMB Memo M-26-11), so it is wrong to describe them as an increase. State Plans that index to a regional CPI did adjust: Oregon's 2026 figures rose slightly under Bulletin 1-2026, and California's willful/repeat cap is adjusted annually while its $25,000 serious cap is fixed by statute.