Final hours for Dollar General to make 4 changes or be fined $100k per day – it may even need to close multiple stores

ONLY hours remain before Dollar General is forced to turn over millions of dollars to the Department of Labor.

As a part of a workplace settlement with the Department of Labor, the discount chain retailer agreed to pay $12 million, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) gave the chain two days to fix specific safety hazards.

On Thursday, the agency in charge of inspecting workplaces gave Dollar General only 48 hours to fix blocked exits, improper access to fire extinguishers and electrical panels, and improper material storage.

Failing to make the changes within two days would result in daily fines of $100,000, reaching a maximum of $500,000.

Stores located in remote locations may be forced to temporarily close until the issues are fixed.

To help meet safety standards, Dollar General agreed to hire a third-party consultant to identify in-store safety hazards.

The store agreed to reduce inventory, which often clutters the aisles, and to hire more safety managers.

“This agreement commits Dollar General to making worker safety a priority by implementing significant and systematic changes in its operations to improve accountability and compliance, and it gives Dollar General employees essential input on ensuring their own health and safety,” Assistant OSHA Secretary Douglas L. Parker said in a press release.

“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,” he continued.

A spokesperson for Dollar General previously told The U.S. Sun they were “pleased to have reached an agreement.”

"We remain committed to ensuring a safe working environment for our employees and a pleasant shopping experience for our customers," they said.

The company has been facing fines from the OSHA since 2017.

Over the past seven years, the dollar store chain has accrued a shocking $21 million in workplace safety fines.

The safety agency found 111 instances of Dollar General violating basic workplace safety standards.

Last year, the OSHA seemed the store a “severe violator” of workplace safety rules.

“What we have found time and time again at Dollar General stores is that there are obvious, preventable hazards that are putting workers at risk,” assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health Douglas L. Parker told The New York Times last year.

“When we learn of situations where we have failed to live up to this commitment,” the company responded.

“We work to timely address the issue and ensure that the company’s expectations regarding safety are clearly communicated, understood and implemented.”

Despite the five-year period of the OSHA reporting safety violations committed by the retailer, Dollar General's stock only grew, The New York Times reported.

“I am glad OSHA is not waiting for a tragedy to occur to document these hazards,” Joseph McCartin, a labor historian at Georgetown University, told The New York Times.

“But at the same time what is being revealed by the numerous OSHA inspections and mounting fees is that Dollar General doesn’t care.”

Dollar General currently employs around 170,000 people, according to Statista.