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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Flammable glue spraying under spray-finishing rules
An OSHA region asked whether spraying glue before lamination was covered by the spray-finishing rule. OSHA said the rule’s broad use of finishing materials included that glue application, as well as…
Wisconsin bankers insurance trust and MEWA rules
EBSA could not determine whether active-member banks actually controlled the Wisconsin Bankers Association trust, so it declined a blanket single-plan ruling. It said each participating nonvoting…
Denver firefighters retirement and death plan
EBSA said a firefighters association’s retirement and death benefit arrangement was both an ERISA pension and welfare plan. It was not a governmental plan because the city neither controlled it nor…
Oregon trust company as bank under PTE 80-51
EBSA said Capital Trust counted as a bank for class exemption PTE 80-51 when maintaining Real Estate Equity Fund II. It did not decide whether any particular investment met another exemption or…
Fumigant sampling as employee exposure records
A longshore union asked whether fumigant grab samples were employee exposure records. OSHA said section 1910.1020 generally did not require employers to create records, but recorded sample results…
Safe access while assembling or dismantling scaffolds
A construction company asked five questions about access during scaffold assembly and dismantling. OSHA said continuous ladder access was not required during those tasks, but other safe access was;…
HYO and HYEX stock options and plan assets
EBSA said the Husky pension plans owned option rights, but stock and underlying corporate assets they might acquire later were not yet plan assets. Decisions to exercise or keep the options still…
Cascade IRA escrow and payroll deductions
EBSA said Cascade’s escrow account was part of its IRA payroll-deduction program and could remain outside ERISA pension-plan status if the regulatory conditions were met. Depositing withheld pay in…
Affiliate IRA sponsor and employer endorsement
EBSA said an employer did not endorse an IRA payroll-deduction program solely because the sponsor was its affiliate, if the earlier conditions were met and the affiliate sponsor offered IRA programs…
Fire extinguisher education and evacuation training
A hospital asked about fire extinguisher and emergency plan training. OSHA said its extinguisher education requirement did not require hands-on practice with controlled fires in the described case.…
Truman Medical Center plan remains nongovernmental
EBSA declined to change its earlier conclusion that the Truman Medical Center retirement plan was not a governmental plan. It still viewed the center as an independent contractor rather than a…
Plan pay for a fully paid union representative
The Department assumed the Cap Makers funds’ administrator received full-time pay as an international union representative, although the requester had not stated whether she was paid full-time. On…
ESOP majority-securities design and prudence
EBSA said an ESOP provision requiring more than half its assets in qualifying employer securities did not itself defeat the statutory primary-investment design requirement. Fiduciaries still had to…
Public employee coverage under state fire brigade standards
An OSHA official reviewed Tennessee’s proposed fire brigade standard. The memorandum said state plans had to apply the federal fire brigade requirements to both private and public employees, and…
Local 919 pension as multiemployer plan
EBSA said the Local 919 food-industry pension trust had a substantial business purpose because collective bargaining covered employment matters beyond the pension. It found the other regulatory…
Baytown mutual benefit association welfare plan
EBSA said the Baytown association’s medical benefits program was an ERISA welfare plan because the association qualified as an employees’ beneficiary association, even though the employer did not…
Intermittent anchors for suspended window washing platforms
An OSHA regional administrator asked how an instruction on intermittent building anchors fit the rule for suspended window washing platforms. OSHA said the instruction recognized an equivalent…
Integon payroll-deduction insurance safe harbor
The Department said Integon’s proposed insurance payroll-deduction program was not an ERISA welfare plan. It saw no indication of a pension plan but limited its opinion to the welfare-plan question.…
Means of egress rules and the Life Safety Code
A safety consultant asked whether the Life Safety Code controlled interpretation of OSHA's means of egress rules. OSHA said the cited NFPA edition had no independent force of law, and that its…
Questions on 1982 UCX amendments
ETA answered state questions about implementing 1982 amendments governing unemployment compensation for ex-servicemembers. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
IRA premium reimbursements and ERISA
EBSA said the insurer’s reimbursement to employees of four percent of their IRA premiums, an amount equal to its usual sales commission, would make its payroll-deduction program an ERISA pension…
IRA fee waivers and employer endorsement
EBSA could not assure that a brokerage employer’s IRA program stayed outside ERISA when it waived usual enrollment and management fees for employees. The proposed payroll-deduction program failed…
Guardrail citations during structural floor slab pours
An OSHA regional administrator asked which construction provision to cite for guardrails during structural floor slab pours. OSHA agreed that section 1926.500(d)(1) applied during the pouring of…
Easco employee health program covered by ERISA
EBSA said Easco’s employee health program was an ERISA welfare plan both before and after its funding changed. The employer maintained it for employees and beneficiaries, and the insurance method…
Bank IRA pricing differences and payroll deduction
EBSA said a bank’s IRA payroll-deduction programs for unrelated employers did not become ERISA pension plans solely because their IRA terms differed from products sold to individuals outside payroll…
1982 amendments to UCX benefits
ETA explained 1982 statutory changes to eligibility and payment of unemployment compensation for ex-servicemembers. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Inpak pension reporting and alternative compliance
EBSA said Inpak’s proposed reporting and disclosure steps appeared to meet the applicable ERISA requirements in form for its 1980 plan year. It declined to certify full compliance without reviewing…
IRA referral fees and broker fiduciary status
EBSA said a referral fee became unconditional when a new IRA came into existence, even if the bank paid it earlier. It declined to clear several scenarios because a broker’s fiduciary status…
Thrift-company savings instruments under ERISA
EBSA treated Fireside Thrift as a bank or similar financial institution under the cited ERISA exemption. Plan investments in its savings instruments could qualify if the remaining conditions,…
Detroit port authority benefit plans governmental
EBSA said the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority was a governmental agency or instrumentality, so its employee benefit plans were governmental plans outside ERISA Title I. Groups formed partly by…
Affiliate bank trustee and plan investment fund
EBSA said retaining an affiliated bank as plan trustee did not itself violate the cited self-dealing rules, and service or collective-fund exemptions could apply if their conditions were met.…
Preventing improper UI payments to undocumented aliens
ETA gave state agencies procedures for detecting and preventing unemployment benefit payments that federal law barred for certain noncitizens. Current status is unconfirmed.
Photo-grey safety lenses in changing light
A senator relayed a company's question about photo-grey safety lenses. OSHA said the lenses were unsuitable for indoor work with changing light, but could be used where light stayed fairly constant…
SEP disclosure method with withdrawal restrictions
EBSA said employers using Foothill Thrift SEP accounts could use the cited alternative reporting and disclosure method despite certificate withdrawal limits if all conditions were met. Any…
Fire hose factory tests and annual inspections
A utility asked how OSHA’s fire hose rule applied to factory testing and later maintenance. OSHA said a factory acceptance test with couplings attached satisfied the cited requirement. The rule did…
1982 tax act changes to unemployment programs
ETA explained Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act changes to extended benefits, state unemployment loans, and federal unemployment taxes. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Ford salaried income security as welfare plan
EBSA said Ford’s salaried income security program was an ERISA welfare plan and did not appear to be a pension plan because it did not defer pay to termination or provide retirement income on the…
Chiropractors insurance trust outside ERISA plan status
EBSA said the chiropractic associations did not themselves maintain an ERISA welfare plan through the health trust because employer members did not control them. An individual employer adopting the…
Short-period work prospects for extended benefits
ETA explained that states may interpret the “reasonably short period” for an extended-benefit claimant’s prospects of returning to customary work as longer than four weeks. Current status is unconfirmed.
Maryland blind-industry pensions governmental
EBSA said Blind Industries and Services of Maryland was a state agency or instrumentality, making its employee pension plans governmental plans outside ERISA Title I. A state rehabilitation…
Small-business group trust outside ERISA plan status
EBSA said the Eastern Small Business Federation trust was not itself a single ERISA welfare plan because participating employer-members did not control the trust, which was controlled by the…
Wage continuation during sickness outside ERISA
EBSA said the proposed wage continuation policies paid from each employer’s general assets for illness or injury absences, lasting up to 13 to 39 weeks, were payroll practices outside ERISA…
Sawdust on workplace floors
A congressman asked about sawdust used on a workplace floor. OSHA said its walking surface rule required clean, orderly, sanitary floors but did not prohibit sawdust when it created no employee…
Contact lenses during welding
An OSHA region asked whether workers could wear contact lenses while welding. OSHA said contact lenses were acceptable when workers used required eye protection, unless the process produced gas or…
Vanguard affiliate services and self-dealing
EBSA said a trust company’s appointment of Vanguard Group to provide services would not itself be prohibited self-dealing where the trustee did not use plan-asset authority for its own or Vanguard’s…
Sisters of Mercy welfare-plan audit exemption denied
EBSA denied an audit exemption for three Sisters of Mercy welfare plans. The trust was not an employee organization for the cited limited exemption, and the employer maintained the plans; a proposed…
IRA payroll materials and employer endorsement
EBSA addressed an insurer’s IRA payroll-deduction program and said employer involvement such as a name or logo on materials would not alone create an ERISA plan if the regulatory conditions were…
Collective plan investments and fiduciary conflicts
EBSA said the proposed collective trust’s service and deposit transactions could qualify for ERISA exemptions if their conditions were met, and said initial appointments by independent plan…
Pension suspension overpayment offsets
EBSA explained how a multiemployer pension fund could recover benefits paid during work that permitted suspension. The first resumed payment could be fully offset, but later payments were generally…
Realtors insurance trust plan status
EBSA said the national realtors association did not maintain a single ERISA welfare plan through its insurance trust on the submitted membership and control facts. An employer using the trust to…
Plan futures margin and broker fiduciary duties
EBSA said a plan trading futures held contract rights, while margin assets held by the futures broker were not themselves plan assets on the described terms. It addressed trust custody and when the…
Hospital ambulance workers in one health plan
EBSA said Orange Memorial Hospital and its ambulance service were under common control because the hospital appointed the service’s board. Covering ambulance workers therefore did not by itself end…
University payroll deductions for credit-union IRAs
EBSA said a university’s multipurpose payroll-deduction system did not become an ERISA pension plan merely because employees could use it for credit-union IRAs. Employer contributions, endorsement…
Workfare food stamps and UI benefit entitlement
ETA explained how mandatory food-stamp workfare allotments affect weekly unemployment benefit entitlement. Current status is unconfirmed.
Pension-claim arbitration costs and review
The Department said making a claimant share arbitration costs equally with the trust contravened ERISA's reasonableness rule if arbitration was compulsory or the trust lacked a full and fair review…
Fire hose size and reel requirements
An equipment committee asked about small hoses under OSHA’s fire protection rule. OSHA said the cited small hose was fire department hard rubber booster hose. A hose reel was preferred but not…
Chromate exposure limit as an eight hour average
A chemical company asked how OSHA's chromic acid and chromates exposure limit applied to strontium chromate and how the limit was measured. OSHA said the table had printed the limit under the wrong…
Real estate repayment of participant loans prohibited
EBSA said a participant’s transfer of real estate to repay a plan loan was a prohibited property exchange under the Internal Revenue Code, even if the loan qualified for an exemption. A trustee…
Law-firm medical leave as payroll practice
EBSA said a law firm’s salary continuation during approved medical absences, paid from general assets, was a payroll practice outside ERISA welfare-plan coverage. Unpaid personal leave was also…
GM income stream benefit as welfare plan
EBSA said General Motors’ guaranteed income stream program was an ERISA welfare plan and did not appear to be a pension plan on the submitted facts. It did not need to decide whether payments were…
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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.