MSHA Implements 2025 Special Assessment Procedures with Elevated Penalty Targets

MSHA’s January 15, 2025 special assessment procedures set defined target penalty ranges and enhance flagrant-violation penalties, while certain categories remain mandatory for special assessment. MSHA Pit & Quarry This matters because referrals must be stopped before the SAR form stage, yet the specific evidentiary showings that consistently reverse referrals are not specified in the provided materials.

Background

Effective January 15, 2025, MSHA’s special assessment procedures set target penalties for non-flagrant violations based on penalty points and specify enhanced treatment for flagrant violations. MSHA Special assessments are mandatory when an operator is receiving daily penalties for continued failure to abate, when a violation is deemed flagrant, and for section 105(c) discrimination violations. Pit & Quarry Regional managers seeking to halt escalation before the SAR form stage must focus on whether a citation actually meets a mandatory category or, if not, on the penalty point factors recognized in the 2025 procedures. MSHA Pit & Quarry

Key Provisions

• Non-flagrant target penalties: $168 for violations with 60 or fewer penalty points and $90,649 for violations with 140 or more points. These are the target penalty levels under the 2025 special assessment procedures. MSHA
• Flagrant escalator: For flagrant violations, the target penalty increases by $1,790.57 per penalty point up to a maximum of $332,376 at 275 points. This per-point add-on applies only to flagrant cases. MSHA
• Mandatory special assessment categories: failure to abate with daily penalties, flagrant violations, and section 105(c) discrimination violations. These categories must be specially assessed when their elements are met. Pit & Quarry
• Negligence point additions: Negligence levels determine penalty point additions, including 5 points where the violation did not contribute to an accident and 7–10 points for various accident scenarios across Low, Moderate, High, or Reckless negligence. These point additions drive target penalties under the 2025 scheme. MSHA

Decision Framework

Threshold questions determine whether a referral can be stopped pre-SAR: (1) Does the citation fall within a mandatory special assessment category; (2) If not mandatory, what penalty points, especially negligence, are supportable under the 2025 scheme; and (3) What procedural authority and timing govern pre-SAR withdrawal. The provided materials identify the mandatory categories and the point framework but do not specify the pre-SAR gatekeeper or evidentiary weighting.

• If the citation involves failure to abate with daily penalties, then special assessment is mandatory; halting referral depends on demonstrating that the operator was not receiving daily penalties for continued failure to abate. Pit & Quarry
• If the violation is deemed flagrant, then special assessment is mandatory and the penalty increases by $1,790.57 per point up to $332,376; reversal before SAR requires showing the violation is not flagrant. Pit & Quarry MSHA
• If the matter concerns a section 105(c) discrimination violation, then special assessment is mandatory; pre-SAR reversal turns on establishing that a 105(c) violation is not present. Pit & Quarry
• If the case is non-flagrant and outside mandatory categories, then negligence level directly affects penalty points; evidence supporting a lower negligence level results in fewer added points under the 2025 framework. MSHA
• Before deciding, confirm: whether daily penalties were actually assessed for continued non-abatement; whether the citation is designated flagrant; whether 105(c) is at issue; and the current negligence assignment driving point additions. Pit & Quarry MSHA

What We’re Monitoring

• Whether unwarrantable failure is a mandatory or discretionary special assessment trigger under the 2025 procedures, to be confirmed by close reading of MSHA’s 2025 Special Assessment General Procedures. MSHA
• Who has authority to stop referrals before the SAR form stage and the precise procedural trigger for that decision, to be identified in the 2025 procedures. MSHA
• Any public guidance describing evidentiary priorities MSHA considers at informal conferences when weighing special assessment referrals. Pit & Quarry