§ 580.18 Collection and recovery of penalty.

(a) When the determination of the amount of any civil money penalty provided for in this part becomes final under § 580.5 in accordance with the administrative assessment thereof, or pursuant to the decision and order of an Administrative Law Judge in an administrative proceeding as provided in § 580.12, or the decision of the Board pursuant to § 580.16, the amount of the penalty as thus determined is immediately due and payable to the U.S. Department of Labor. The person assessed such penalty shall remit promptly the amount thereof, as finally determined, to the Secretary. Payment shall be made by certified check or money order made payable and delivered or mailed according to the instructions provided by the Department; through the electronic pay portal located at www.pay.gov or any successor system; or by any additional payment method deemed acceptable by the Department.

(b) Pursuant to section 16(e) of the Act, the amount of the penalty, finally determined as provided in § 580.5, § 580.12 or § 580.16, may be:

(1) Deducted from any sums owing by the United States to the person charged. To effect this, any agency having sums owing from the United States to such person shall, on the request of the Secretary, withhold the specific amount of the penalty from the sums owed to the person so charged and remit the amount to the Secretary to satisfy the amount of the penalty assessed;

(2) 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. When the person against whom a final determination assessing a civil money penalty has been made does not voluntarily remit the amount of such penalty to the Secretary within a reasonable time after notification to do so, the Solicitor of Labor may institute such an action to recover the amount of the penalty; or

(3) 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. Any such unlawful act or practice may be enjoined by the United States district courts under section 17 upon court action, filed by the Secretary; and failure of the person so enjoined to comply with the court order may subject such person to contempt proceedings. A willful violation of sections 6, 7, or 12 of the Act may subject the offender to the penalties provided in section 16(a) of the Act, enforced by the Department of Justice in criminal proceedings in the United States courts. In any of the foregoing civil or criminal proceedings, the court may order the payment to the Secretary of the civil penalty finally assessed by the Secretary.

[56 FR 24991, May 31, 1991, as amended at 69 FR 75406, Dec. 16, 2004; 84 FR 59931, Nov. 7, 2019; 86 FR 52987, Sept. 24, 2021]