Dollar General to pay $12 million penalty, improve safety in US settlement

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Discount store operator Dollar General (NYSE:) has agreed to pay $12 million in penalty for alleged safety violations that led to blocked exits and fire extinguishers and unsafe storage, the U.S. Labor Department said in a statement on Thursday.

The company is also required to improve workplace safety in stores across the U.S. in a settlement with the Labor Department, the government agency added.

WHY IT’S IMPORTANT

Dollar General, which reported net income of $363.3 million in the quarter ended in April, has over 19,000 stores in the U.S., was designated by the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration as a “severe violator” of federal law.

The department has previously alleged that the retailer endangered worker safety through exposure to unsafe conditions and the company failed several government safety inspections.

CONTEXT

The Labor Department said that as part of the settlement, the company will hire additional safety managers, expand its safety and health management system, provide concerned training to employees and managers and develop a safety and health committee.

The settlement also requires the company to significantly reduce inventory and increase stocking efficiency to prevent blocked exits and unsafe material storage.

Failure to correct any identified future hazards within 48 hours may require the retailer to pay $100,000 per day of violation, up to $500,000, as well as inspection from the Labor Department, the government said. The department added the company will provide it with quarterly reports.

KEY QUOTE

“These changes help give peace of mind to thousands of workers, knowing that they are not risking their safety in their workplaces and that they will come home healthy at the end of each day,” Douglas Parker, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, said on Thursday.

“We remain committed to ensuring a safe working environment for our employees and a pleasant shopping experience for our customers,” Dollar General said in an emailed statement, adding it was pleased to resolve the matter.