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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Counterweights for two point suspension scaffolds
A scaffold company asked whether outrigger counterweights had to be made of non-flowable material. OSHA said the then-current rule required sound, rigid anchorage rather than naming a material,…
Passive brokerage custodian and transaction exemption
EBSA said Sutro, acting only as a passive custodian for Keogh or simplified employee pension accounts, was not a trustee for purposes of the cited prohibited-transaction exemption. Its lack of…
Tip-up guardrails for roof window cleaners
An engineer asked whether a particular hinged rooftop guardrail could protect window cleaners. OSHA said the described placement appeared to meet the intent of its guardrail rule, provided the…
Intercompany reinsurance in ERISA five-percent test
EBSA said premiums paid when one Sears-group insurer reinsured another’s plan coverage were not counted a second time under ERISA’s five-percent test for insurer contracts. The plan paid the…
Bricklayers health fund status and termination assets
EBSA said a bricklayers health fund remained an ERISA welfare plan even after employer contributions stopped, assuming the fund still operated under the trust agreement and its trustees remained…
IRA loans to a closely held company and self-dealing
EBSA said three described IRAs were outside ERISA Title I assuming they met the Internal Revenue Code’s IRA requirements. But their owners’ direction of loans to a company they owned was likely to…
New Jersey transit pension plans as governmental plans
EBSA said New Jersey Transit and its two controlled bus subsidiaries were state agencies or instrumentalities on the stated facts. Their employee pension plans were therefore outside ERISA Title I…
Minister’s Group Trust outside ERISA plan status
EBSA said the Minister’s Group Trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan because unrelated participating employers did not control it and its administrator did not act on their behalf. Individual…
New Hampshire health coverage law and ERISA preemption
EBSA said New Hampshire could apply the cited extended-coverage requirements to insurers selling group policies, including to ERISA plans. The state could not impose the same requirements directly…
Seat-belt requirements for trenching equipment
An OSHA region asked about a trenching machine with a plowing attachment. OSHA said the cited seat-belt rule applied while the equipment traveled to or from trenching, but not during the described…
Welfare-plan surplus transfer to employer pension plans
The Labor Department said a proposed transfer of surplus welfare-plan assets to cover employer pension liabilities would benefit the employers and violate ERISA’s exclusive-benefit rule on the…
Aggregating affiliated insurers for ERISA premium test
EBSA said three affiliated Transamerica insurers should aggregate their relevant premiums when applying ERISA’s five-percent test for insurance contracts with related benefit plans. The agency…
SEP disclosure method with a restricted savings option
EBSA said a non-Model simplified employee pension could use the cited alternative reporting and disclosure method even though its bank IRA offered a 90-day restricted withdrawal option. Meaningful…
Approved portable lights for ship repair work
An internal OSHA review considered whether specified portable lights could be used in ship repair. The memo said the maritime rules recognized Bureau of Mines approval for explosion-proof lights and…
Truman Medical Center pension plan outside governmental status
EBSA found Truman Medical Center was an independent nonprofit contractor rather than a governmental agency or instrumentality on the stated facts. Its retirement plan was therefore not excluded from…
Plan forfeiture rule and fiduciary duty in litigation
In a litigation letter, the Labor Department said trustees had to follow the plain meaning of an unambiguous plan forfeiture rule under ERISA and could not substitute policy preferences. It said…
GM savings plan and employer-note investments
EBSA said General Motors’ proposed retirement income plan was a pension plan and individual account plan. It would be an eligible individual account plan if it was a single qualified savings plan…
Salary continuation during medical absence
The Labor Department said Crum and Forster’s salary-continuation policy, funded from each participating employer’s general assets, was a payroll practice outside ERISA welfare-plan coverage even…
Single-provider payroll deduction IRA programs
The Labor Department said limiting a voluntary payroll deduction IRA program to one sponsor and one funding medium did not by itself amount to employer endorsement if specified safeguards were met.…
Access to original employee medical X-rays
A company asked whether workers entitled to medical records could examine original X-rays on site instead of receiving a free copy. OSHA said original films had to be preserved and made available…
California hospital district benefit programs
The Labor Department treated the Association of California Hospital Districts and its member districts as governmental entities on the stated facts. To the extent their programs provided employee…
Illinois Health Care Association benefit program
After investigating the Illinois Health Care Association’s health program, the Labor Department found it was controlled by a separate administrator, not by an employer association or the…
Bolted connections in fixed ladder cages
A ladder manufacturer asked whether vertical cage bars could be bolted to a horizontal hoop with the nut head inside the cage. OSHA said it would allow the connection if it developed enough strength…
Incipient fires and breathing apparatus
An employer asked how OSHA distinguishes incipient-stage from interior structural fires. OSHA said an incipient fire is small enough for initial firefighting without protective clothing or breathing…
Pension fund termination payments to former director
The Labor Department said proposed payments to a former pension fund director beyond his original contract were not compensation qualifying for the cited ERISA prohibited-transaction exceptions. It…
Fixed ladder rung dimensions while a rule is under review
A manufacturer asked about fixed ladder rung dimensions while OSHA was reviewing its standard. OSHA restated the then-current maximum 12-inch spacing and 16-inch minimum clear rung length, and said…
Food-stamp agency disclosure draft-language correction
ETA corrected draft state-law language for disclosing unemployment wage and claims information to food-stamp agencies. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
NAIC employee retirement plan as governmental plan
The Labor Department concluded that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ employee retirement plan was a governmental plan outside ERISA Title I. It relied on state support and the…
Audit requirement for Hunt Oil thrift plan
The Labor Department said Hunt Oil’s thrift plan could not use the cited limited audit exemption because its insurance contract held unallocated funds rather than only fully guaranteed, allocated…
Interlocks and barriers around rotating barrels
A safety consultant asked how to guard revolving barrels and drums. OSHA said a shared enclosure could substitute for individual guards if access stopped all rotation, controls stayed outside, and…
Coverage of six union welfare funds under ERISA
The Labor Department concluded that six jointly maintained laborers’ welfare funds met the coverage requirements of ERISA Title I and the earlier Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act on the…
Alaska electric cooperative deferred compensation plan
The Labor Department could not classify Matanuska Electric Association’s deferred compensation plan as governmental without facts showing that a government body established or maintained it. It said…
Church-related school coverage after St. Martin
ETA explained the effect of the St. Martin and Grace Brethren decisions on unemployment coverage of church-related schools. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Asset buyer and pension plan party-in-interest status
The Labor Department said W.R. Grace would not become a party in interest to a seller’s profit-sharing plan solely by acquiring the seller’s assets on the stated facts. A later purchase or lease of…
1981 federal amendments affecting unemployment programs
ETA explained 1981 federal amendments affecting extended benefits, state unemployment financing, and federal unemployment taxes. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Seat belt load requirements on agricultural tractors
An agricultural equipment maker asked about tractor seat belt and anchorage loads under the rollover protection rule. OSHA said the seat belt load was not intended to equal the anchorage load…
Picking and carrying loads with a truck crane
A construction association asked whether a truck crane could pick up and carry a load without deploying outriggers. OSHA said the construction rules allowed that when the manufacturer rated the…
Integral steel guards on abrasive cup wheels
An abrasive wheel maker asked whether its steel-backed cup wheel met guarding requirements. OSHA said an integral guard strong enough to contain wheel fragments could protect the operator, even…
Color-change air purifiers and carbon monoxide testing
An OSHA region asked whether a color-change air purifier could replace testing carbon monoxide in breathing air from an oil-lubricated compressor. OSHA said the purifier did not measure carbon…
Travel-card and rental-car accident insurance
The Labor Department said neither free travel accident coverage supplied with an employer’s American Express card nor employee-selected rental-car accident coverage reimbursed by the employer was an…
Texas homebuilders benefit trust status
The Labor Department found the Homebuilders Association Employees Benefit Trust was created and controlled by a separate administrator rather than by an employer association. The trust itself was…
Assessing state unemployment reserve adequacy
ETA gave states guidance for assessing the adequacy of unemployment trust-fund reserves. Current status is unconfirmed.
Western Union furlough payments as pension benefits
The Labor Department classified Western Union’s involuntary-furlough payment arrangement as an ERISA pension plan rather than a severance-pay welfare program. The payments were tied to a…
Oil and gas bonus pool and ERISA coverage
The Labor Department said Anadarko’s annual override bonus pool was not an ERISA welfare plan and appeared to be a bonus program rather than a pension plan on its stated terms. It cautioned that…
Merchants Discount Service Association trust
The Labor Department said the Merchants Discount Service Association trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan on the stated assumption that member employers neither voted in nor controlled the…
Fall protection for steel erection connectors
An OSHA regional office asked about fall protection for connectors and other ironworkers during steel erection. OSHA described when tie off, decking, or nets were expected, with qualifications for…
Early withdrawal penalties on plan bank deposits
The Labor Department said an ERISA exemption could cover penalties required by banking rules when a plan redeemed an employee bank’s time deposit early, even if a third-party trustee carried out the…
Temporary lighting strings with non-heavy-duty cord
An electrical maker asked about temporary construction lighting strings that lacked heavy-duty cord. OSHA said listed manufactured strings installed under their listing instructions and kept safe…
Salary continuance as a payroll practice
The Labor Department said The Continental Corporation’s salary continuance for medical absences, paid from employer general assets and capped at normal pay, was a payroll practice outside ERISA…
General safety requirements for hand tools
A requester asked about OSHA requirements for hand tools. OSHA said it did not prescribe general tool dimensions, but employers had to keep tools and equipment in a safe condition. It also…
Illinois general interest-rate law and plan loans
The Labor Department said ERISA preempted Illinois’s general interest-rate ceiling to the extent the statute applied to loans made by covered employee benefit plans. It found the law was a broad…
Extended-benefit work-test interpretation changes
ETA revised and clarified its interpretation of the federal extended-benefit work test in the 1980 Omnibus Reconciliation Act. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Dock securing under powered industrial truck rules
A dock equipment company asked about truck and trailer restraint during loading. OSHA said the powered industrial truck rule covered several truck types, and securing a trailer to the dock could be…
Meals and lodging as FUTA wages after Rowan
ETA explained the Supreme Court’s Rowan decision on whether employer-provided meals and lodging count as wages under federal unemployment tax law. Current status is unconfirmed.
Blasting mats and drilling near charged holes
An OSHA region asked about construction blasting distances. OSHA said equipment such as a backhoe placing blasting mats was not covered by the cited 50-foot equipment restriction. It distinguished…
Competent persons for construction crane inspections
A construction manager asked whether employees inspecting cranes needed an ANSI Level II rating. OSHA said its rules required competent persons for pre-use and annual inspections, but did not…
Third-class mailing of pension plan disclosures
The Labor Department said the Teamsters pension fund could mail required disclosures by second or third class without guaranteed return and forwarding postage if it requested address corrections and…
ESOP money purchase plan and employer securities
The Labor Department said a qualified money purchase plan forming part of an employee stock ownership plan would be an eligible individual account plan for the cited ERISA employer-securities limit.…
Hospital pension loan to a medical center
The Labor Department said Lakeland Medical Center was not a party in interest to the hospital’s pension plan on the facts supplied. It declined to decide whether a proposed plan loan to the center…
When fire detection and employee alarm rules apply
An insurer asked when OSHA’s fire detection and employee alarm rules applied. OSHA said the cited provisions applied to systems installed to meet particular OSHA standards, and gave examples of…
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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.