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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Unfunded replacement of forfeited pension benefits
The Labor Department said South Bend Lathe’s proposed unfunded payments to replace pension benefits lost when employees moved from a former employer fit specified ERISA exclusions. If established as…
Electronic release buttons on exit doors
A company asked about a security door with an electronic release button. OSHA said employees must be able to open an exit route door immediately from inside without a preliminary action; an added…
Brokerage bonus pool and ERISA pension-plan status
The Labor Department said a brokerage bonus pool appeared, on the plan document alone, to pay bonuses without systematically deferring them to retirement or termination. It could not decide whether…
Inspection of fixed fire extinguishing systems
A plant security officer asked who could inspect and maintain a fixed fire extinguishing system. OSHA said an employer could train its own employee or hire a contractor for annual inspection.…
Fixed ladder clearance and access hatch deviations
An engineer asked about a fixed ladder's rung clearance and a small access hatch at an intake tower. OSHA said the one-inch clearance shortfall was de minimis, and the hatch deviation could be…
Employee SEP rollover to a separate broker-dealer IRA
The Labor Department said an employee’s voluntary rollover from an employer’s SEP IRA to a separate broker-dealer IRA would not by itself make the receiving IRA an ERISA pension plan. That answer…
Small welfare-plan reporting exemption for union trust
The Labor Department said a union welfare trust was part of the benefit plan, not the employee organization maintaining it, so the plan could not use the specific small welfare-plan exemption it…
Fixed-period deferred salary and ERISA pension status
The Labor Department said Petro-Lewis’s salary deferral plan was not an ERISA welfare plan and, on its written terms, was not a pension plan because payments followed a fixed schedule rather than…
Deferred trustee compensation for services through June 1977
The Labor Department said a welfare trust’s former trustees could receive deferred health coverage after June 30, 1977 for services performed before that date, even if some still received full-time…
Citing reversed electrical polarity
An OSHA regional office asked whether and how to cite reversed polarity in electrical wiring. OSHA said the hazard could warrant citation and identified a new prohibition expected to take effect in…
Fixed ladder protection on communication towers
A communications equipment company asked about fixed ladders on towers. OSHA said an unbroken tower ladder over 20 feet required a ladder safety device or a cage with landing platforms under its…
Proposed supplemental payments to departing bank employees
The Labor Department would not assure United Virginia Bankshares that proposed extra payments to employees it expected to terminate were outside ERISA’s pension-plan definition. The employees had…
Massive vinyl chloride release under an emergency rule
An OSHA regional office asked whether a massive vinyl chloride release meant exposure at a leak point, in a worker's breathing zone, or across the work area. OSHA answered that the term referred to…
When automatic sprinkler requirements apply
A committee asked whether automatic sprinkler systems were within OSHA jurisdiction. OSHA said section 1910.159 applied when another OSHA standard required the system; systems not required by OSHA…
Apprenticeship fund assets held by a separate committee
The Labor Department said a St. Paul apprenticeship fund’s transfer of plan money to a separate committee account failed ERISA’s general rule that plan assets be held in trust by trustees. A…
Citibank sale of industrial-park trust to pension fund
The Labor Department said Citibank’s sale of an industrial-park trust held for benefit plans to another pension fund did not violate the cited prohibited-transaction and employer-property rules on…
Union death-benefit fund and ERISA reporting
The Labor Department said a union fund paying $1,500 when a member died was an ERISA welfare benefit plan. Its payment was more than the small gift covered by the remembrance-program exception, so…
Seismic blasting holes left charged before firing
An OSHA region asked about seismic exploration charges placed in a national forest but not fired immediately. OSHA said the described charged, capped, and stemmed holes ordinarily did not violate…
1980 federal amendments affecting unemployment benefits
ETA explained 1980 federal amendments affecting unemployment compensation, including extended benefits and state financing. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Employee stock purchase plan and ERISA coverage
The Labor Department said Bibb Company’s voluntary stock purchase plan was not an ERISA welfare plan and, on its written terms, did not defer income until retirement or termination. It warned that…
Prepaid dental agreement for small-plan reporting exemption
The Labor Department said an Arizona prepaid dental organization’s employer agreement could count as an insurance contract for a limited ERISA small welfare-plan reporting exemption. The…
Employee drilling-fund trust and ERISA plan status
The Labor Department said a proposed employee trust investing in a drilling fund was not an ERISA welfare plan and did not provide retirement income or long-term deferral on its written terms. It…
Oregon utility district retirement plan as governmental
The Labor Department said the Northern Wasco People’s Utility District retirement plan was a governmental plan based on representations that the public district established, administered, and funded…
Virginia transit employees’ governmental retirement plan
The Labor Department said a retirement plan for Richmond and Norfolk transit employees was a governmental plan excluded from ERISA title I. It relied on the cities’ and public transit bodies’…
De minimis ceiling-height deviation on an exit route
A company asked for a variance or clarification for a small ceiling-height deviation along an exit corridor. OSHA said the specific shortfall appeared de minimis because it had no direct or…
Diversification through pooled limited partnership
The Labor Department said a plan investing in the Atalanta pooled partnership should assess diversification by looking through to the partnership’s underlying investments. It declined to decide…
Employer-owned insurance backing death benefits
The Labor Department said life insurance policies bought and owned by Tandy to help cover its own death-benefit costs would not be assets of the proposed employee plan. The answer depended on Tandy…
Participant mortgage loans and reasonable interest
The Labor Department said an ERISA plan’s mortgage loans to participants must be prudent investments and bear a reasonable interest rate, judged against comparable lending risks and returns. A rate…
Sugar company insurance for growers’ workers
The Labor Department said a sugar company’s insurance program for workers employed by independent beet growers would fall outside ERISA title I if the company had no legal duty or agreement with the…
Retirement-linked monthly payments as pension plan
The Labor Department said Michigan Millers’ Living Income Benefit was an ERISA pension plan because it paid monthly benefits to qualifying retired employees. It appeared subject to ERISA title I,…
Fall protection provisions and overhand bricklaying
A bricklayers union asked whether several construction fall protection provisions applied to overhand bricklaying. OSHA said those specified provisions did not apply to that process for masons and…
Age-conditioned severance payments as a pension plan
The Labor Department said Upper Peninsula Power’s limited severance program was an ERISA pension plan, even though it called for voluntary termination payments. Its age 60 eligibility condition made…
Multiunion welfare trust and insurance-marketing concerns
The Labor Department said the Consolidated Labor Union Trust was an ERISA welfare plan as then constituted, and a plan could generally cover members of multiple unions. It warned that expansion…
Safeguarding die setters on mechanical power presses
A metal stamping association asked how OSHA's mechanical power press rule protected die setters during setup and jogging. OSHA said die setters faced point of operation hazards like production…
Dental association insurance programs and ERISA duties
The Labor Department said the Michigan Dental Association’s group insurance offerings were not themselves an ERISA welfare plan because the association was neither an employer nor an employee…
Paired shares as qualifying employer securities
The Labor Department said shares of two companies covered by a single profit-sharing plan could each be qualifying employer securities, even though the paired shares traded only together. That…
Insurer-employer annuity contract exemption
The Labor Department said Connecticut Mutual qualified as an employer maintaining the retirement plan for its general agents’ clerical employees for the cited prohibited-transaction exemption.…
Accountant audits for supplemental unemployment trusts
The Labor Department said five Phoenix Steel supplemental unemployment plans could not use the audit exemption for unfunded welfare plans because contributions passed through separate trust funds,…
Pay status for enforcement of a marital pension decree
The Labor Department clarified an earlier opinion about payments to a former spouse under a marital pension decree. Its pay-status requirement applied when the plan was to make a payment, not when…
Voluntary pension supplements for pre-1974 retirees
The Labor Department said Crocker National Bank’s proposed voluntary supplements for people retired before 1974 would not themselves form an ERISA pension plan for 1981. Later years could receive…
Halon 1211 extinguishers rated for Class A fires
An insurer asked whether Halon 1211 extinguishers could be used for Class A fire hazards after some received a new UL rating. OSHA said any extinguisher with a UL Class A rating was permitted for…
Age-based severance with disability benefits
The Labor Department said Bacardi’s severance program was both an ERISA welfare plan, because it paid disability benefits, and a pension plan, because its age-based payments provided retirement…
Guarding live parts in electrolytic cell operations
An OSHA region asked about a citation for live-part guarding on an electrolytic cell line. OSHA said the cited 1971 electrical provision did not fit a process where contact with live conductors was…
Workers compensation files and medical record access
An employer asked whether workers compensation files fell under OSHA’s medical record access rule. OSHA said coverage depended on workplace exposure, the medical content of a record, and how it was…
Individual steps in manhole risers
An engineering firm asked whether OSHA's fixed ladder rule applied to individual steps in manhole risers and conical top sections. OSHA said it did not, pointed to a separate instruction, and noted…
Covenant Life trust death benefits and reserve accounts
The Labor Department said employers’ plans using seven Covenant Life insurance trusts were welfare plans, not pension plans, if they paid only death benefits to designated beneficiaries and no…
GTO-79 group insurance trust and plan reserves
The Labor Department said employers’ plans using the GTO-79 insurance trust were welfare plans rather than pension plans if they provided only death benefits and no payments to employees or former…
Union burial fund paying $3,000 on a member’s death
The Labor Department said a Teamsters local’s fund promising $3,000 to a deceased member’s beneficiary appeared to be an ERISA welfare plan. It said the payment appeared to be a death benefit rather…
Insurance-agent association group trust and ERISA status
The Labor Department said the Professional Insurance Agents group trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan because the association was neither an employee organization nor a bona fide employer…
Former employees and exposure-record access complaints
OSHA regional offices asked how to handle former employees’ complaints about denied exposure or medical records. OSHA said the access rule did not distinguish former from current workers, so staff…
Meaning of hospitalization in accident reporting
A construction association asked how OSHA defined hospitalization in an accident reporting instruction. OSHA said the statute and rule did not define the term and the agency had used its ordinary…
Insurance separate account ownership of real-estate entities
The Labor Department said an insurance company’s legal ownership of at least half of a real-estate entity for a separate account did not by itself make the entity a party in interest under section…
One-year voluntary payments to pre-1977 retirees
The Labor Department said Fulton National Bank’s proposed voluntary payments to people who retired before January 1, 1977 would not form an ERISA pension plan if authorized for no more than a year…
Applied Magnetics stock purchase plan and ERISA status
The Labor Department said Applied Magnetics’ proposed employee stock purchase plan was not an ERISA welfare plan and, on its written terms, was not a pension plan because participants could receive…
Group-insurance reporting exemption for participating plans
The Labor Department said the San Joaquin Employers Insurance Trust itself was an insurance-purchasing vehicle rather than an ERISA plan, while participating employers might maintain individual…
Federal employees’ insurance association and ERISA status
The Labor Department said WAEPA’s nonmilitary federal-employee members shared a sufficient employment tie for an employees’ beneficiary association. It could not tell whether members meaningfully…
Vipond stock bonus plan and eligible account plan
The Labor Department found that the Vipond stock bonus plan appeared to qualify as an eligible individual account plan, based on the represented account structure and employer-stock provisions. It…
Overseas Rockwell pension plan excluded from ERISA title I
The Labor Department said Rockwell’s overseas pension plan was excluded from ERISA title I because it was maintained abroad for nonresident aliens, assuming no other people participated. It directed…
U.S. bank control of plan assets held abroad
The Labor Department said Mitsubishi Bank of California could meet the management-and-control condition for plan assets held abroad if it qualified as the specified kind of bank and was properly…
Disclosure of unemployment information to child-support and food-stamp agencies
ETA explained when state unemployment agencies must share wage and claims information with child-support and food-stamp agencies. It addressed written requests, reimbursement, safeguards, and which…
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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.