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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Newspaper severance payments and pension status
EBSA said a proposed newspaper transfer-employee severance plan appeared to provide welfare benefits unless payments were contingent, directly or indirectly, on retirement. Because eligible…
Euro-clear custody of ERISA plan securities
EBSA said the Euro-clear system was a foreign clearing agency acting as a securities depository under the cited ERISA custody regulation. Qualified banks could use it for covered plan assets if all…
Notice required for pension benefit suspensions
EBSA said a pension plan could suspend benefits for the described continued employment before January 1, 1982 under the statute without the later regulation’s notice. For work on or after that…
Automatic power interruption on woodworking machinery
A device maker asked whether its power failure release option met OSHA requirements for woodworking machines. OSHA said the product appeared capable of meeting the automatic power interruption rule,…
Medical exams after coke oven workers transfer or leave
An OSHA area office asked whether coke oven workers still needed medical examinations after leaving a regulated area. OSHA said qualifying workers transferred elsewhere within the same employer must…
Crane design review under marine terminal standards
A marine cargo company asked for clarification of the crane and derrick design review rule. OSHA said the rule aims to ensure an adequate review for employee safety and permits use of the original…
Three-year phantom-stock plan and ERISA status
EBSA said Concept Systems’ three-year phantom-stock plan was not an ERISA pension plan by its express terms because payments depended on a fixed time period, not retirement or termination.…
Keep Well Trust and employer-group status
EBSA declined to decide whether participating employers in the Keep Well Trust formed a bona fide group for ERISA plan status because actual control was factual. The trust might be a MEWA, in which…
Funded welfare plan ineligible for reporting exemption
EBSA said Donnelly Mirrors’ self-funded health plan could not use the limited reporting exemption for unfunded welfare plans. Its separate account held plan assets and paid benefits and expenses,…
FUTA standard rates and employer experience rating
ETA set out its interpretation of FUTA’s standard-rate and experience-rating requirements for state employer contribution schedules. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Time and Temple-Inland plan stock exchanges
EBSA said the described Time and Temple-Inland stock ownership plans were not parties in interest to one another and their proposed stock exchanges would not, in themselves, violate the cited ERISA…
Guarding skylights in general industry roofs
A requester asked how OSHA's general industry rules apply to skylights. OSHA said a skylight through which someone could fall should be guarded by a screen or fixed railing, but a plastic skylight…
Marine Midland mutual fund share exemption
EBSA said the Marine Midland plan’s transactions in a bank-affiliated investment company could receive PTE 77-3 relief if Marine Midland qualified as an investment adviser under the Investment…
Air-pressure transfer of combustible and noncombustible liquids
A drum dispenser maker asked whether OSHA restricted air-pressure dispensing of nonflammable and noncombustible liquids. OSHA said its rule prohibited that transfer method for flammable and…
Prelift plans for crane suspended work platforms
A construction company asked what a prelift plan under an OSHA instruction had to show before a crane hoisted employees on a work platform. OSHA said a plan for each group of lifts should record the…
Evidence needed for alternative safety eyewear
An eyewear manufacturer sought OSHA acceptance of a polycarbonate lens and UL-TEMA spectacle under its eye protection rule. OSHA said it could evaluate only a complete product, not a lens alone, and…
Pension audit when a bank holds plan assets
EBSA said a Searle retirement plan still had to engage an independent qualified accountant and include the accountant’s opinion in its annual report; holding all plan assets at a bank did not remove…
Facial hair and tight-fitting respirators
A member of Congress asked whether a worker could waive the no-beard requirement for a tight-fitting respirator. OSHA said individual releases could not exempt an employer from the respirator rule;…
Colorado credit-code limits on pension loans
EBSA said Colorado’s consumer-credit interest restrictions on pension-plan participant loans appeared to survive ERISA preemption as generally applicable criminal law because violations carried…
Small welfare trust denied reporting exemption
EBSA said the A.I. McDermott health trust could not use the cited limited reporting exemption for certain small welfare plans. The company established and controlled the trust, while employees did…
Palm Beach Carpenters trust asset transfer
EBSA addressed transferring remaining assets from the Palm Beach Carpenters vacation trust to a related pension-annuity trust. The trusts were not parties in interest to each other on the stated…
Investment consultant recommendation of its own fund
EBSA said an investment consultant’s recommendation that client plans invest in a fund it managed would violate ERISA self-dealing rules if the consultant was a fiduciary by giving investment…
Equitable investment monitoring and fiduciary status
EBSA said Equitable’s performance monitoring was not automatically investment advice, but use of indices to steer a plan toward its own products could create fiduciary status and self-dealing…
Equivalent protection from Vision Guard safety eyewear
An eyewear manufacturer asked whether its Vision Guard device could meet the intent of OSHA’s eye protection rule despite differing from the referenced ANSI standard. OSHA found the complete device…
Hydrostatic test records for fire extinguishers
An employer asked whether its computer printout adequately documented hydrostatic tests of fire extinguishers. OSHA said records also needed the test pressure and the person or agency performing…
Pump-jack scaffolds at a 50-foot working height
A scaffold maker asked whether its aluminum pump-jack scaffold could be used at a 50-foot shoulder working height. OSHA said the described use would comply if it followed the intent of the…
Emergency respirators and the respiratory protection program
A requester asked whether OSHA’s respirator rule applied to equipment kept for emergencies. OSHA said it did, and emergency respirators must be available for immediate use where immediately…
AT&T when-issued trading deposits and plan assets
EBSA said initial and maintenance deposits for the described when-issued AT&T share trades were not plan assets under the stated exchange arrangements. A broker-dealer did not become an ERISA…
Affiliate investment manager fees and ERISA self-dealing
EBSA said initially retaining an affiliated investment manager did not itself violate the cited self-dealing rules if the employer paid all fees and the plans were never obligated to pay them.…
Closed hooks for crane suspended employee platforms
A construction company asked what counted as a closed hook for the lifting bridle of a crane suspended employee platform. OSHA said a spring loaded safety latch could open when the load shifted, so…
Compressed-air tunneling medical and decompression requirements
A foreign labor ministry asked OSHA about compressed-air tunneling. OSHA identified where its construction rules set decompression tables, require a medical lock, and address examinations and…
Broker commissions can compensate investment advice
EBSA rejected the claim that broker-dealers avoid ERISA investment-advice fiduciary status unless they receive a separate nontransactional fee. A portion of brokerage commissions may pay for…
Pressure piping compliance under flammable-liquid rules
An OSHA field office asked how the flammable-liquid piping rule related to tank storage testing. The regional administrator agreed that piping, valves, and fittings meeting ANSI B31 design…
Virgin Islands license meets exemption condition
EBSA said an insurer licensed by the U.S. Virgin Islands met the state-licensing condition of PTE 79-41 because ERISA’s definition of state includes the territory. Other exemption conditions still…
Secondary containment for cyanide electroplating baths
An employer asked whether a cyanide bath needed diking when the inner tank sat within a monitored outer tank. OSHA said the principal hazard was toxicity rather than the fire hazard addressed by its…
Keyes-Fibre credit union pension covered by ERISA
EBSA said the Keyes-Fibre Federal Credit Union Pension Trust was an employee pension benefit plan covered by ERISA Title I. The trust was maintained by the credit union for employee retirement…
Brunswick water-district pension conditionally governmental
EBSA said the Brunswick/Topsham Water District pension would be a governmental plan excluded from ERISA Title I if the district was a Maine state or local agency or instrumentality. The opinion does…
Five credit union pension trusts covered by ERISA
EBSA said five named federal credit union pension trusts were employee pension benefit plans covered by ERISA Title I. It relied on the trust and filing records showing credit-union employers,…
Pipe Fitters Local 211 welfare trust covered by ERISA
EBSA said Pipe Fitters Local 211’s welfare trust was an ERISA Title I welfare plan. The union and contributing employers maintained it under collective agreements for represented workers and…
Construction rules for maintenance painting at a plant
A manufacturer asked whether general industry or construction safety standards govern maintenance painting around its plant. OSHA cited the construction work definition, which includes painting and…
Laboratory fume hood face velocity standards
A senator asked about fume hood face velocities in laboratories. OSHA said the existing face velocity provisions in several carcinogen standards did not apply to laboratories under a cited court…
Western Interstate Commission plans as governmental
EBSA said WICHE was an agency or instrumentality of each state in its compact, so its employee plans would be governmental plans excluded from ERISA Title I if they were changed to cover only WICHE…
Florida home builders health trust outside ERISA plan status
EBSA said the Florida Home Builders Health Benefit Trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan because no qualifying employer or employee organization maintained it. Participating employers could…
Kemper affiliate investment manager selection
EBSA said selecting an affiliated Kemper investment manager for a master trust did not by itself violate ERISA self-dealing rules where sponsoring employers paid the fees. Conflicted negotiation or…
Fall protection during structural steel erection
A steel erector sought further guidance on fall protection for connectors and other workers during structural steel erection. OSHA described circumstances in which tied safety belts, decking, or…
Religious employees health trust outside ERISA plan status
EBSA said the Religious Employees Health Care Trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan because the broad association of religious workers was not an employee organization and no employer…
Mayflower owner-operator trust outside ERISA plan status
EBSA said the owner-operator group health trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan, so the cited ERISA provision did not shield it from applicable state insurance regulation. Separate employers…
Fixed-obligation insurance separate accounts and plan assets
EBSA said insurance separate accounts maintained solely to support fixed contractual obligations did not hold ERISA plan assets when plan payments could not vary with account investment results.…
Alternative guardrail designs and state plan rules
An employer asked whether a variable railing arrangement could meet OSHA's general industry guardrail rule. OSHA said it could if it met the rule's top rail height, 200-pound strength, and…
Illinois bank insurance trust status undecided
EBSA declined to decide whether participating Illinois banks formed a bona fide employer group maintaining one ERISA welfare plan. The banks could elect most trust managers, but actual employer…
1983 Social Security amendments affecting UI
ETA explained 1983 Social Security amendments affecting state unemployment programs, including benefit rules, interest on advances, and FUTA provisions. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Northern States Power severance treated as pension
EBSA said the company’s severance benefits were an ERISA pension plan rather than a welfare severance program because payments were indirectly tied to retirement benefits, at least for older…
Eastern Air Lines investment bonus pension question
EBSA said the amended Eastern Air Lines investment bonus did not defer pay to employment termination by its express terms, and it did not disagree that the agreement lacked welfare benefits.…
Plastic observation windows for abrasive blasting
A blasting equipment maker asked whether plastic could replace required safety glass in observation windows. OSHA said screened, maintained plastic with equivalent strength and clarity would meet…
United Technologies plan leases and affiliate services
EBSA said a tenant’s arrangements with a United Technologies subsidiary under an absolute net lease did not involve a plan fiduciary dealing with plan assets under the cited self-dealing rule. It…
John Hancock affiliate fund-manager selection
EBSA said selecting an affiliate to manage the John Hancock plan’s fund investment did not itself violate the cited self-dealing rules when John Hancock paid its fee. Conflicts in the actual…
Bacardi health plans and union administrator
EBSA said the Bacardi clinic and Blue Cross arrangements were ERISA welfare plans if they were the medical plans in the company-union agreement. On the submitted facts, the union controlled the…
When hard hats are required
A member of Congress asked whether workers must always wear hard hats. OSHA said employers must assess each operation and worksite for potential head injury hazards and require suitable protection…
Security guards, sanitation, and workplace temperature
A member of Congress asked about safety conditions for security guards. OSHA said it had no specific security guard or workplace temperature standard, but its sanitation rule required adequate…
Oil-and-gas royalty plan pension status unresolved
EBSA could not conclude that Cibola Energy’s production royalty participation plan was outside ERISA pension status or a simple bonus plan. It cited the open-ended royalty pool and a vesting…
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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.