Draconian

Etymology

From Draco, the Athenian statesman who around 621 BC produced the city’s first written law code. Its punishments were notoriously brutal, prescribing death for even minor thefts; a later writer joked that it seemed written in blood rather than ink. The lawgiver’s name became the adjective for any rule of merciless severity.

adjective · /druh-KOH-nee-un/
Excessively harsh and severe, especially regarding laws, rules, or punishments.
What it names
Cruelty of the rule-making kind — reach for it when a penalty is wildly out of proportion to the offense it punishes.
Example
The new attendance policy was draconian — a single late arrival, for any reason, cost you the whole day’s pay.
Related idea
Strict means firmly enforced but not necessarily unfair; draconian means the severity itself has become disproportionate and punishing.