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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Western Employers and Employees Security Trust outside one ERISA plan
A benefits trust asked whether it was a single ERISA welfare plan for many small employers. The Department found that unrelated employers had not jointly controlled or established it, so the trust…
Maritime severance program outside ERISA pension plan status
The request concerned whether a maritime health and benefit plan’s temporary severance program was an ERISA pension plan. Based on the information and assumptions in the request, the Department said…
Louisville police sick and death benefit fund under ERISA
An inquiry asked whether a Louisville police benefit corporation was covered by ERISA or excluded as a governmental plan. The Department said its member run sick and death benefits were an ERISA…
Manila rope strength for lifelines
A contractors’ association asked whether a lower-strength manila rope could serve as a lifeline. OSHA said the cited rule required at least 5,400 pounds of breaking strength, so a 4,860-pound rope…
Utility Trailer dealer stock options and ERISA party status
A truck trailer manufacturer asked whether unexercised options to acquire control of dealers made those dealers parties in interest to its profit sharing plan. The Department said the options alone…
Retirement supplement plan debentures as marketable obligations
A retirement plan sought opinions on its plan type and on debentures it had purchased. The Department deferred the plan type question during rulemaking but said the specifically described debentures…
Public employer and union welfare trusts as governmental plans
After trustees withdrew an advisory opinion request amid litigation, the Department published its view on four welfare trusts jointly bargained by Teamsters Local 237 and public employers. It said…
Flammable varnish dip tanks and curing ovens
An OSHA area-office memo discussed flammable varnishes used in motor-coating dip tanks and curing ovens. It identified potential inspection issues involving added solvents, overflow, ignition…
Strike-related benefits after New York Telephone
ETA explained that the Supreme Court left states free to authorize unemployment benefits for strikers after a suspension period; the ruling did not require other states to change their labor-dispute…
Pneumatic drop hammers in hot and cold forging
A state safety official asked whether the safety-cylinder-head rule covered a pneumatic drop hammer. OSHA said the cited provision applied to pneumatic drop hammers used in hot forging, while…
Trenching near a raised soil bank
A state safety official asked how OSHA's trenching rules applied beside a raised soil bank. OSHA said an inspector observing the described trench and bank conditions could cite separate requirements…
Massachusetts plan specific criminal law under ERISA preemption
A requester asked whether Massachusetts criminal penalties aimed specifically at welfare and pension funds survived ERISA preemption. The Department said the generally applicable criminal law…
Smooth surfaces on sectionalized rail systems
A construction company asked whether sectionalized rail systems met OSHA's smooth top-rail requirement. OSHA said the submitted designs appeared to meet it if their surfaces had no projections or…
Somerset Club benefit fund under ERISA
A social club asked whether its Bradlee and Sprague funds, treated together as one benefit fund, were outside ERISA. The Department said the combined fund was an ERISA welfare plan because it…
Santa Fe employee stock ownership plan as an ERISA pension plan
An employer asked whether its employee stock ownership plan was an ERISA benefit plan. The plan delayed withdrawals until termination or eight years after contribution, whichever came first, and the…
C and O railroad hospital association under ERISA
A railroad hospital association asked whether its benefit program was an ERISA welfare plan and whether its assets could avoid ERISA’s trust requirement. The Department said COEHA, jointly…
Washington proposal on insurer assumption of ERISA plan obligations
A Washington legislative committee asked whether a proposal requiring insurance commissioner approval before an insurer assumed an ERISA welfare plan’s obligations was preempted. The Department said…
California unclaimed benefit distributions and ERISA preemption
A requester asked whether California could take custody of unclaimed distributions from ERISA benefit trusts after seven years. The Department said the state unclaimed property law was preempted to…
Guarding pneumatic staplers
A manufacturer asked which OSHA rules applied to a pneumatic stapler. OSHA identified portable-tool and point-of-operation guarding provisions in general industry, construction pneumatic-tool rules…
Insurance separate account purchases under ERISA exemptions
Several insurers asked whether plans could purchase pooled separate account interests and other insurance contracts from an insurer that was a party in interest. The Department said statutory…
Pennsylvania Enterprises plan employer stock divestiture amount
A pension plan asked how much employer stock it still had to divest by December 31, 1979. Using the plan’s stated valuation date and values, and assuming no employer real property was held on…
Southeastern Life stock and Blount retirement trust limits
A retirement trust asked whether stock of a wholly owned insurer counted as employer securities and when the plan had to meet ERISA’s 10 percent limit. The Department lacked facts to decide the…
Secured Oregon scaffold versus prohibited lean-to scaffold
An OSHA region asked whether a modified Oregon scaffold was prohibited as a lean-to scaffold. OSHA said the proposed scaffold, if secured to the structure and meeting applicable general…
Prudential separate accounts and prohibited transaction exemptions
A request submitted for Mr. Powell asked whether a plan's purchase of interests in Prudential insurance accounts would be a prohibited transaction when Prudential was a party in interest. The…
Co-operative bank retirement plan term deposits
A retirement program asked whether deposits at participating co-operative banks were prohibited transactions. The Department said the deposits qualified for an ERISA exemption through October 31,…
Rollover protection for skid-steer loaders
An OSHA region asked how to cite skid-steer loaders without rollover protective structures where a specific standard had been reserved. OSHA said operators faced a recognized serious hazard in the…
Skid-steer loaders without rollover protection
An OSHA memorandum addressed rubber-tired skid-steer loaders without rollover protective structures. It directed staff to cite the general duty clause for specified heavier four-wheel-drive machines…
Mechanics Savings Bank supplemental retiree payments
A bank asked whether discretionary payments to retirees from its general assets formed an ERISA pension plan. The Department said the cited no-participants regulation did not resolve the question…
California Casualty plan sale of employer stock
A savings plan proposed selling stock of a related life insurer to the employer sponsoring the plan. The Department said the sale was ordinarily prohibited but could qualify for the employer…
V.I.B.A. insurance trust outside ERISA plan status
The request asked whether the V.I.B.A. Trust itself was an ERISA welfare plan. The Department said the trust and its administrator were neither an employer nor an employee organization under the…
Retracting-reel lifelines below the stated strength
A manufacturer asked whether two retracting-reel lifelines met OSHA’s construction lifeline rule. OSHA said their 4,000- and 3,000-pound breaking strengths failed the 5,400-pound requirement. It…
Rollover protection and brakes on an excavator
A manufacturer asked whether a small excavator with a dozer blade needed rollover protection. OSHA said its construction ROPS rule did not require it for that machine at the time. It also identified…
Sampling for flammable vapors in spray areas
An OSHA memorandum clarified when inspectors needed lower-explosive-limit sampling before citing spray-finishing requirements. Documented organic-peroxide spraying or flammable materials inside a…
Travel agents incentive compensation plan and ERISA coverage
An employer asked whether its proposed service based incentive compensation plan was an ERISA benefit plan. The Department said it was not a welfare plan and, by its terms, did not appear to be a…
Local 945 severance and welfare funds covered by ERISA
An inquiry asked whether two Local 945 Teamsters funds were covered by ERISA and the earlier federal disclosure law. After examining the funds and union, the Department concluded both the severance…
Goodyear Relief Association welfare plan status
An employee association asked whether its supplemental medical benefits program was an ERISA welfare plan. The Department concluded the association qualified as an employees’ beneficiary association…
Operating Engineers vacation and holiday pay fund
A collectively bargained vacation and holiday pay fund asked whether it was an ERISA welfare plan or merely a payroll savings arrangement. The Department said employer contributions funded vacation…
Tri-State Carpenters death fund appeared covered by ERISA
A union death benefit fund asked whether its voluntary member assessments created an ERISA welfare plan. The Department said the expected death payment was more than a small remembrance gift, so the…
Betz employee stock incentive plan and ERISA coverage
An employer asked whether a restricted stock incentive plan for selected employees was an ERISA benefit plan. The Department said the plan was not a welfare plan and was not a pension plan by its…
Apprenticeship fund status after consent decree
An apprenticeship and training fund asked whether changes made under a discrimination consent decree removed it from ERISA coverage. The Department said the fund remained an ERISA welfare plan…
OSHA jurisdiction inside a nuclear containment facility
A nuclear facility sought a variance from OSHA’s supplied-air respirator air-quality rule. OSHA said NRC regulation generally covered the primarily radiological conditions inside the containment…
Longshoremen vacation account covered as welfare plan
A collectively bargained vacation account asked whether its payments were an excluded payroll practice. The Department said the account was an ERISA welfare plan: vacation pay came from a separate…
O’s Gold plan sale of employer stock
A terminating profit sharing plan proposed selling its employer stock back to the employer. The Department said the stock qualified as employer securities and the sale could be exempt if the plan…
South Mississippi health agency pension plan start date
A health agency asked when its pension plan began and whether a 1977 document change created a new plan. The Department said a plan existed for ERISA title I as of January 1, 1975. It declined a…
Irving Trust securities lending fees and fiduciary self dealing
A bank trustee proposed lending plan securities and charging fees tied to the value and duration of the loans. The Department said the services exemption did not excuse fiduciary self dealing and…
Pacer plan deposit programs and savings associations
Two savings associations asked whether accepting deposits for Pacer retirement programs made them ERISA fiduciaries, parties in interest, or bonded plan officials. The Department said the described…
Time optional retirement program and pension plan status
An employer asked whether its current and revised optional early retirement program was outside ERISA pension plan coverage. The Department said neither version met the severance pay or supplemental…
Partner’s spouse participation in multiemployer pension fund
A multiemployer pension fund asked whether ERISA automatically barred the employed spouse of a partner in a contributing business from participating. The Department said the rule excluding a partner…
Load testing language for overhead cranes
A company asked whether 'should' in the overhead crane load-testing rule was merely advisory. OSHA said the paragraph had to be read with its related 'shall' requirements for test reports and…
Guarding lathe chucks under the general machine rule
An OSHA memorandum clarified guarding for production lathe chucks. It said the general machine-guarding rule applied because there was no specific chuck standard; a cited ANSI provision could guide…
Laminated plywood as scaffold planking
A plywood association asked whether laminated veneer planks could be used on scaffolds. OSHA said planking with equivalent strength could qualify if engineering data substantiated compliance, but…
Leader Foundation charity outside ERISA benefit plan status
A foundation asked whether cash and medical help to needy former employees of a long liquidated company made it an ERISA benefit plan. The Department determined that the described charity was…
Connecticut health plan measures and ERISA preemption
The request concerned whether two Connecticut measures could be applied to three Monsanto health benefit plans. The Department said ERISA preempted the measures for plans covered by ERISA Title I.…
Employee IRAs funded with employer affiliated mutual fund shares
A financial services employer asked whether employee IRAs funded with shares of a fund it underwrote would become ERISA pension plans. The Department said no plan would result if the IRAs met the…
Pacific Maritime vacation and holiday pay plans
Maritime employers asked whether collectively bargained vacation and holiday pay arrangements were excluded payroll practices. The Department said the separate funds paying those benefits made the…
Baltimore longshore guaranteed annual income fund
A longshore guaranteed income fund asked whether payments for hours of work unavailable during a year were ERISA welfare benefits or ordinary payroll. The Department said the benefits were tied to…
Ground-fault protection on permanent construction wiring
An OSHA memorandum addressed a portable tool plugged through an extension cord into a permanent 120-volt construction-site receptacle. It said a GFCI could be used but was not required in that…
Uniform spacing of manhole ladder rungs
A manufacturer asked for guidance on uniform rung spacing in sewer manholes. OSHA said a December 1978 instruction supplied spacing dimensions and superseded an earlier instruction. The archived…
Wells discrimination settlement trusts and ERISA coverage
A bank asked whether four court supervised trusts created to remedy employment discrimination were ERISA benefit plans. The Department said the trusts were not ERISA welfare plans because their…
Secured Oregon scaffold and lean-to prohibition
An Oregon safety official asked whether a scaffold design fell under the lean-to scaffold ban. OSHA said the secured design appeared different from a prohibited lean-to scaffold and should meet the…
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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.