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Business and Economic News
Jonathan Franklin, NPR

Dollar General will pay $12 million in fines over workplace safety violations

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A Dollar General store is seen on Aug. 3, 2017, in Luther, Oklahoma. Clothes, pool noodles and plastic lawn chairs are on display for sale outside the store's front doors, and shopping carts are lined up to the store's left.
Dollar General has agreed to pay a $12 million fine and improve conditions at its thousands of retail stores nationwide to make them safer for workers, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Here, a Dollar General store is seen on August 2017, in Luther, Okla.
Sue Ogrocki/AP

Dollar General has agreed to pay $12 million in penalties and improve safety at its nearly 20,000 stores across the U.S. after claims that the discount retailer put its employees in danger with its practices, the Labor Department said.

In a news release last week announcing the settlement, the Labor Department said that Dollar General will have to significantly reduce its store inventory and hire new safety managers, provide health and safety training, and develop a safety and health committee for employees.

The agreement also outlines that Dollar General must correct any future safety violations regarding blocked exits or access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels within 48 hours — or face fines of up to $500,000 per violation.

The assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, Douglas Parker, said in the statement that the settlement demonstrates Dollar General's commitment to making worker safety a priority. He said the chain will implement "significant and systematic changes" in its operations.

"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," Parker said.

In an email to NPR, the company said that it is pleased to have reached an agreement with the Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to resolve and improve the overall safety in stores, saying in part: "We remain committed to ensuring a safe working environment for our employees and a pleasant shopping experience for our customers."

Since 2017, Dollar General has faced millions of dollars in penalties, as the discount chain was issued more than $15 million in fines for "numerous willful, repeat and serious workplace safety violations," according to a 2023 OSHA news release.

In January 2023, OSHA inspectors discovered that the discount retail chain continuously exposed its workers to "unsafe conditions" in two store locations in Florida and one in Alabama. In July 2022, inspectors found that merchandise blocked exit routes at a Dollar General store in Alabama. The chain was issued citations for two repeat violations, racking up nearly $205,000 in fines.

And in recent years, the discount chain's stores have also been targets for robberies and violent crimes.

In August 2023, a white gunman opened fire at a Jacksonville, Fla., and killed three people. The local sheriff told reporters following the shooting that the attack was racially motivated and that the gunman, later identified as Ryan Palmeter, 21, left behind "manifestos" that suggested he "hated Black people" before he killed himself.

Since 2014, nearly 50 people have died and 172 have been injured in Dollar General stores across the U.S., according to data from the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit organization that tracks gun use across the country.

Copyright 2024, NPR