Federal Labor Guidance
Free plain-English summaries of opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices from the U.S. Department of Labor, with the current status and the official source on every page.
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Double-insulated tools and construction ground-fault protection
A tool maker asked how double-insulated tools are recognized and protected on construction sites. OSHA said the tools need appropriate insulation and laboratory markings. Under the GFCI option,…
Permissible radiation exposure levels
A worker asked OSHA about permissible radiation exposure levels. OSHA said the dose limits in Table G-18 of 29 CFR 1910.1096 applied to covered employees regardless of job title, and quoted the…
Alien eligibility for unemployment compensation
ETA interpreted FUTA requirements governing which noncitizens’ service can support unemployment compensation eligibility. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Ground fault protection on construction extension cords
A regional administrator asked how ground fault protection applied to extension cords plugged into permanent building outlets at construction sites. OSHA said the cord-end receptacles were generally…
Shoe company executive plan and top-hat status
EBSA said the Ettelbrick pension plan did not qualify as a select management or highly compensated employee plan under the cited ERISA exemptions, given the broad range of covered salaries and…
Incident reporting by State Employment Security Agencies
ETA instructed State Employment Security Agencies to report known or suspected fraud, abuse, or criminal activity in ETA-funded programs to the appropriate ETA Regional Administrator. It called for…
Local-investment condition on an annuity fund
EBSA said a condition favoring local construction mortgages could breach ERISA if it meant greater risk or less return than a comparable investment without the condition. Whether the proposed…
Holy Redeemer Hospital pension plans as church plans
EBSA said Holy Redeemer Hospital’s retirement and thrift plans were church plans excluded from ERISA Title I on the submitted facts about the hospital, religious order and plans. The opinion…
Acceptance of third-party equipment testing laboratories
An equipment maker asked whether OSHA accredited testing laboratories, including a Canadian association. OSHA said its laboratory accreditation regulation had not been implemented, so it accepted…
Railroad noise jurisdiction and OSHA noise limits
A railroad worker asked about workplace noise limits. OSHA said the Federal Railroad Administration had jurisdiction over the worker’s health matters and would determine the applicable rules. For…
Burger King education assistance outside ERISA
EBSA said Burger King’s tuition and education reimbursement program was a scholarship program outside ERISA’s welfare-plan definition because it paid qualifying education costs solely from general…
Generic material safety data sheets for related products
A gas supplier asked whether one material safety data sheet could cover several fuels and mixtures. OSHA said a common sheet was acceptable if it supplied all required information and identified the…
Scaffold grade lumber and permissible plank spans
A construction company asked whether selected structural lumber could be used as scaffold planking. OSHA said the planking had to meet scaffold-grade or equivalent grading rules and that the…
Scaffold plank grades and permissible spans
A construction supplier asked about scaffold plank requirements. OSHA said planking had to be scaffold grade or equivalent under approved grading rules, and that the described selected structural 2…
Corporate leasehold sale alongside plan property sale
EBSA said a corporation’s separate sale of its leasehold to an unrelated buyer did not itself transfer plan assets or breach the cited self-dealing rules. A coordinated arrangement to benefit plan…
Power transmission repair and construction rule coverage
A regional administrator asked whether the construction power transmission rule covered repair work. OSHA said the provision should not then be used to cite repair hazards; staff should assess the…
Fall protection while erecting or dismantling scaffolds
A scaffold trade association asked OSHA to withdraw an August 1985 memorandum on fall protection during scaffold erection and dismantling. OSHA said it would keep that memorandum and require…
OSHA objection to Nevada's temporary-lighting interpretation
OSHA asked Nevada's occupational-safety agency to withdraw an interpretation that allowed Romex wiring for temporary construction lighting. The memorandum attached an earlier OSHA position requiring…
Material safety data sheets for discontinued products
A manufacturer asked whether OSHA required it to provide a material safety data sheet for a product discontinued more than 12 years earlier. OSHA said its new Hazard Communication Standard was not…
OSHA authority over safety on inspected vessels and offshore sites
A worker-safety correspondent asked OSHA about possible risks from a proposed rule for offshore waste incineration. OSHA explained that the Coast Guard had primary authority for inspected vessels…
When an injury must be reported to OSHA
A senator asked whether an employer had to report a single employee injury to OSHA. OSHA said the described injury did not trigger the then-current reporting rule for fatalities or catastrophes…
No voluntary benefit waiver during employer appeal
ETA reaffirmed that an eligible claimant’s benefits cannot be delayed during an employer appeal even if the claimant volunteers to waive payment pending the outcome. ETA still lists the letter as…
Fall protection during scaffold erection and dismantling
An OSHA regional administrator asked about a proposed exemption from fall protection for employees erecting or dismantling scaffolds. The memorandum described OSHA's then-current policy of requiring…
Synthetic rope as a steel-erection safety railing
A safety consultant asked OSHA about using synthetic or fiber rope as a guardrail during steel erection. OSHA referred to its then-current position that excessive sag could fail to protect workers…
Puerto Rico hospital pension plan as church plan
EBSA said Hospital de la Concepcion’s pension plan was a church plan excluded from ERISA Title I, relying in part on the representation that the hospital would be tax exempt if subject to IRS…
Telephone coverage for hazard communication information
A chemical manufacturer asked whether its hazard communication telephone number had to be staffed around the clock. OSHA said the rule required a number on material safety data sheets, but did not…
Hazard warnings for acute and chronic chemical hazards
A chemical company asked how its material safety data sheets and labels should describe acute and chronic hazards in several mixtures. OSHA said an MSDS should include all valid evidence about…
Alaska Teamsters legal-services trust and prohibited loans
EBSA said the legal-services trust was not an employee organization and so was not a party in interest to the pension trust on that ground. It declined to decide the factual employer question, but…
Alaska Teamsters welfare-trust loans and party status
EBSA said the welfare trust was not an employee organization and so lacked that party-in-interest link to the pension trust. It declined to decide the separate employer question, but found the…
Brakes and rollover protection on earthmoving equipment
A construction-industry correspondent asked OSHA about brake requirements and rollover protection systems for earthmoving equipment. OSHA identified the applicable braking and ROPS testing…
Additional Air Force DD Form 214 separation reason
ETA added another Air Force narrative separation reason to the UCX eligibility guidance in UIPL 25-83. Current status is unconfirmed.
Man-made mineral fiber exposure limits and health risks
A mineral-fiber manufacturer asked OSHA about exposure limits, proposed changes, and the health risks of man-made mineral fibers. OSHA described the then-current ACGIH threshold and OSHA permissible…
Fall protection during scaffold erection and dismantling
OSHA told its regional administrators that workers erecting or dismantling scaffolds did not have to wear a safety belt and lanyard at every moment. It said protection was needed during stationary…
Foreign affiliates under employer-security rules
EBSA said foreign corporate status alone did not prevent an entity from being an affiliate under ERISA section 407(d)(7), and described the 50 percent ownership test. It did not decide whether…
Structural Ironworkers pension funds under ERISA
EBSA said the Structural Ironworkers Local No. 1 annuity and pension funds were employee pension benefit plans covered by ERISA Title I: they arose from collective bargaining, provided retirement or…
Foundry castings as articles under hazard communication
A foundry association asked OSHA to treat castings as articles exempt from hazard communication duties. OSHA said some castings could qualify, but a blanket exemption was inappropriate when…
Standards affecting window cleaners and refrigeration workers
A correspondent asked OSHA for safety standards covering window cleaners and refrigeration-plant workers. OSHA said it had no standards specific to those jobs but identified general industry…
Credit union legal plan outside ERISA welfare status
EBSA could not conclude from the submitted facts that a San Antonio credit union was an employees’ beneficiary association: its members had no shown common employment bond and included students. A…
School employee benefits when job capacity changes
ETA explained when a school employee’s move between professional and nonprofessional work affects unemployment benefits during a school break. It said such a change requires denial during a break…
Machine guarding standards for paper and plastic shredders
A requester asked OSHA which safety standards applied to paper and plastic shredder machines. OSHA said it had no shredder-specific standard, but the general machine-guarding rule and several…
Video display terminal safety and federal injury data
A member of Congress asked OSHA about video display terminal safety and how federal employee injury data was used. OSHA described proposed steps to reduce fatigue and glare, summarized then-current…
One safety data sheet for similar chemical mixtures
An ink manufacturer asked whether related mixtures with different flash points and vapor pressures could share one material safety data sheet. OSHA said a small range could be reported if the…
Guarding package tying machines
A manufacturer asked OSHA how its package tying machines should be guarded and whether domestic or foreign manufacture changed the requirements. OSHA pointed to the general machine-guarding and…
Frozen profit-sharing plan lease to a successor company
EBSA said a company that never assumed, adopted or maintained a frozen profit-sharing plan was not a party in interest to it solely as an employer, assuming that remained true and the plan stayed…
Slope measurement for five-foot trenching
OSHA answered how its trenching rule applied when the five-foot level method was used. It said the slope or angle of repose should be measured from the bottom of the trench, and confirmed that Table…
OSHA and EPA jurisdiction for pesticide hazards
OSHA explained how responsibility was divided when pesticides were applied at a workplace. EPA regulated pesticide applicators and farmworker reentry, while OSHA covered other employees at risk from…
Interest on overpaid federal unemployment claims
ETA said states that charge interest on regular unemployment overpayments must also charge it on federal-program overpayments at the same rate. They must return both recovered principal and interest…
Schedule A reporting for common-trust insurance contracts
EBSA said employers adopting the described AMA master retirement plan did not need individual Schedule A attachments where the insurance contracts appeared to be issued to the common trust’s…
Surface contamination and skin absorption criteria
An environmental-services employer asked OSHA for allowable levels of hazardous chemicals on workplace surfaces, especially PCBs. OSHA said its standards had no numerical surface-contamination or…
Audiometric retests and standard threshold shifts
A hearing-conservation consultant asked how employers should handle audiometric retests that show threshold shifts in both ears. OSHA said a 30-day retest was permitted but not required, and a valid…
Equipment purchase contracts and sponsor services
EBSA said a profit-sharing plan’s purchases of equipment contracts from an unrelated seller did not themselves trigger the specified prohibitions on the submitted facts. Sponsor-paid staff services…
Response to request for a new wood-dust PEL
The International Woodworkers of America supported a petition for a 1 mg/m3 permissible exposure limit for all wood dusts. OSHA said its scientific staff would review the relationship between…
Short-term disability payments as payroll practice
EBSA said Vulcan Lead’s short-term disability program was a payroll practice outside ERISA Title I because payments came from employer general assets, did not exceed normal pay and covered illness…
Standards applicable during structural steel erection
A steel contractor asked which fall-protection rules applied while structural steel was being erected. OSHA said connectors could initially work without tying off, but stationary connectors exposed…
Meaning of an effective hearing conservation program
A hearing-conservation association asked OSHA to define an effective hearing conservation program. OSHA said the term referred to a program that prevents workplace noise from producing a standard…
Credit union prepaid legal services and ERISA status
EBSA said the Express-News credit union prepaid legal program was not itself an ERISA welfare plan because it was not established by a qualifying employer or employee organization. An adopting…
Air Force Reserve separation reasons for UCX
ETA added Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard narrative separation reasons to UCX eligibility guidance. Current status is unconfirmed.
Referral of UI criminal cases to the OIG
ETA instructed state agencies when to refer suspected crimes in unemployment programs to the Department of Labor inspector general. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Federal-agency procurement of personal protective equipment
A federal-employee union asked how OSHA’s Basic Program Elements applied to federal agencies’ purchase of safety equipment. OSHA said the Occupational Safety and Health Act and 29 CFR 1960.8…
UFT prescription drug plan as governmental
EBSA said the UFT Welfare Fund prescription drug plan was a governmental plan outside ERISA Title I because only New York City’s education board funded it for its employees. Its discussion of ERISA…
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These are official interpretive documents from the U.S. Department of Labor: opinion letters answering questions from employers and workers, administrative policies, and interpretive notices. They show how the agency applies wage-and-hour and workplace law to real situations, but they are guidance, not statutes or court decisions, and the agency can supersede or withdraw them. Every page above shows the document's current status, when that status was last verified, and a link to the official source.