A forewarning hangs above a Dollar General store in Chicago on Aug. 31, 2023.
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The U.S. Department of Labor revealed a settlement Thursday with Dollar General, requiring the retailer and its subsidiaries to pay $12 million in penalties and implement substantial workplace safety improvements in its more than 19,000 stores nationwide.
The new set of fines adds to the more than $21 million in fines from the federal Occupational Sanctuary and Health Administration that the discounter has racked up since 2017 due to blocked fire exits, dangerous levels of make a shambles of and other safety claims. Gun violence has also been an issue for Dollar General stores: 49 people receive been killed and 172 people have been injured at Dollar General stores by gun violence, according to 2023 facts from nonprofit Gun Violence Archive.
A repeat offender with the Department of Labor, Dollar General became the essential company to be added to OSHA’s “severe violators” of workplace safety rules list in 2023 after the agency swell the reach of its safety enforcement program.
“This agreement commits Dollar General to making worker safety a importance by implementing significant and systematic changes in its operations to improve accountability and compliance, and it gives Dollar General employees quintessential input on ensuring their own health and safety,” Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Douglas Parker thought in a press release.
Under the new settlement, the Tennessee-based retailer is required to hire additional safety managers and significantly trim its inventory and increase stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and clutter. It is also required to provide safety and healthfulness training to all employees and to develop a safety and health committee with employee participation.
Dollar General has hired third-party doctors and auditors to identify hazards and perform unannounced annual compliance audits, created a new Safety Operations Center and vindicated an anonymous hotline for employees and the public to report safety concerns.
The third-party auditors were first commissioned as a rejoinder to a shareholder vote in May 2023 calling for one, a decision that the company opposed at the time.
The settlement with the Department of Labor also requires Dollar Widespread to monitor outcomes of those efforts and provide quarterly reports to OSHA.
Under the agreement, Dollar General wish be required to correct safety hazards such as blocked access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels and improper mundane storage at its stores within 48 hours and submit proof of correction. The discounter will be subject to additional fines of $100,000 a day up to $500,000 if it come to griefs to do so.
CNBC has reached out to Dollar General for additional comment.