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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Variety artists sick and relief fund covered by ERISA
A performers union asked whether its sick and relief fund was an ERISA welfare plan and sought prohibited transaction exemptions if it was. The Department said the fund was a welfare plan on the…
Hydraulic tool fluids and work near energized lines
An attorney asked about fluid and hose requirements for hydraulic tools used in construction near energized power lines. OSHA said the general hand-tool rule required fire-resistant fluid and that…
When cut-and-cover construction becomes tunnel work
A transit authority asked which construction rules applied to a partly covered excavation. OSHA said open cuts fell under excavation rules, while a cover restricting access, air movement, daylight,…
Multiemployer trustee conflicts and construction loans
A multiemployer plan requested exemptions and interpretations for trustees tied to participating employers. The Department said ordinary ties to an employer did not bar a trustee from collection or…
Safe access to tubular steel scaffolds
A scaffold manufacturer asked what counted as safe access to tubular scaffolds. OSHA said stairs, suitable ramps or runways, and ladder-like configurations could qualify, but the submitted…
Wire-rope knots on oil-field hauling winches
A drilling contractors’ group asked OSHA to accept a winch-line knot used to attach chain in oil-field hauling. OSHA said the cited standards prohibited securing wire rope by knots and described the…
Insulating workers near energized power lines
A state labor office asked whether a power-line rule required the specific gloves and sleeves named in its example. OSHA said the aim was to insulate or guard workers from energized parts and that…
Hard-hat duties and employer policy
An employee asked whether OSHA could intervene over a company hard-hat rule when no head hazard existed. OSHA said its standards did not require hard hats without an exposure to possible head…
Rollover structures on narrow tractors
A tractor equipment company sought a variance for a rollover protective structure that could not meet the rule's 24-inch dimension. OSHA said the proposed design did not give equivalent protection…
GFCI rules for ship repair and shipbuilding
An engineering company asked whether construction-site ground-fault protection rules applied to ship repair. OSHA said repairing or building ships did not by itself make a construction site, though…
Employee stock purchase plan outside ERISA
A requester asked whether Fidelity American Bankshares' voluntary employee stock purchase arrangement was an ERISA benefit plan. The Department said it was neither a welfare plan nor a pension plan…
Pattern bargaining and Ingersoll pension Plan C-2
Ingersoll asked whether later bargaining for pension Plan C-2 related back to a pre-1974 agreement for an ERISA transition rule. The Department said it did on these facts, but declined to decide…
Norwegian pension fund excluded from ERISA Title I
A Norwegian pension fund asked if ERISA Title I applied despite a few participants working in the United States. The Department said the fund was maintained abroad primarily for nonresident aliens…
Safety-net supports on construction sites
A safety-net supplier asked what support OSHA required for construction nets. OSHA described performance requirements for clearance and impact testing, edge-rope strength, and fastenings. Where no…
Blast-cap tester batteries under OSHA and mining rules
A manufacturer asked about power sources for testing electric blast caps. The Department of Labor's occupational safety counsel said the silver-chloride dry-cell requirement appeared in OSHA's…
Tracking workers in tunnels and shafts
A construction contractor asked whether its check-in and check-out board adequately tracked workers in tunnels and shafts. OSHA said the method appeared to meet the intent of the cited rule if…
Employee stock ownership trust as ERISA pension plan
A company asked whether its employee stock ownership plan and trust was covered by ERISA. The Department said it was a pension plan because its terms provided retirement income, even though…
Vacation trust bonding and fiduciary service rules
A vacation fund trustee asked how much insurance the multistate trust needed when a bank held participant accounts. The Department said ERISA required no insurance beyond its bonding rule, but…
Joint venture ownership and ERISA party-in-interest status
A savings association asked whether its interest in a construction joint venture made it a party in interest to a pension trust. The Department said that if the contractor employer owned less than…
Yellow-band marking on flammable-liquid safety cans
A safety-can maker asked whether its marking instructions met OSHA's rule. OSHA said they did not, because a yellow identification band had to go around the can; a conspicuous yellow contents name…
Pattern bargaining and Ingersoll pension Plan C-1
Ingersoll asked whether later bargaining for pension Plan C-1 related back to a pre-1974 agreement for an ERISA transition rule. The Department said it did on the represented facts, but declined to…
Battery types in blasting galvanometers
A manufacturer asked whether carbon-zinc batteries could power blasting galvanometers. OSHA said the construction rule allowed only a purpose-designed silver-chloride cell. The general-industry rule…
Guarding meat-cutting bandsaws
A bandsaw maker asked how OSHA’s machine-guarding rule applied to meat cutters. OSHA said the general-industry rule applied and that guards covering the blade except its working portion could meet…
Double-insulated tools and ground-fault protection
An OSHA office asked whether double-insulated construction tools need ground-fault protection. OSHA said employers choosing GFCIs had to protect workers using grounded or double-insulated tools…
Spray-finishing rules and water-based materials
An OSHA regional office asked when spray-finishing rules cited by the ventilation standard apply. OSHA said the flammable-material provisions apply when flammable or combustible finishes are…
Wire-rope fittings and OSHA product approval
A fitting maker asked OSHA to accept its wire-rope product. OSHA said it did not approve brands and that employers had to meet applicable standards. It cited construction rigging provisions on safe…
Investment managers and prior fiduciary breaches
Two incoming pension fund investment managers asked what they must do about potential misconduct by predecessor fiduciaries. The Department said that for the specified 1965–1977 audit period,…
Pension fund real estate valuation by investment manager
A pension fund investment manager asked how to value mortgage loans and real estate under ERISA. The Department said the manager could use remaining principal for nontroubled loans, relevant…
Mortgage loan valuation by pension investment manager
An investment manager asked whether it could value a pension fund’s real estate mortgage loans at their remaining principal balances. The Department said that method met its fiduciary duties for…
Classifying serious OSHA violations
A senator relayed a concern that OSHA was reclassifying less serious violations to raise penalties. OSHA said the statutory definition had not changed, but a 1976 clarification meant some hazards…
TIAA-CREF annuity contract compliance with ERISA
TIAA-CREF asked whether amended annuity contracts would satisfy ERISA’s survivor annuity and benefit timing rules. The Department said the contracts were noncompliant for certain pre-1978 plan years…
Narrow bargaining changes to Budd retirement agreement
A union and employer asked whether three benefit changes ended their 1973 retirement agreement for ERISA transition provisions. The Department said the surviving spouse, age-65, and limited lump-sum…
Employee withdrawal after flammable gas in tunnels
An OSHA region asked what 'shall be withdrawn' meant for flammable gas detected in an underground workplace. OSHA said employees must leave the tunnel and portal area at 1.5 percent or higher, and…
Maintenance as normal crane operating conditions
An OSHA official asked whether occasional maintenance on a crane bridge footwalk counted as exposure during 'normal operating conditions.' OSHA said it did, and planned a directive defining the…
Floor-load plates and de minimis violations
A transit authority asked whether its garage floor-load review process satisfied OSHA's posting rule. OSHA said the lack of required load plates still violated the rule, but the review process…
Tiered floors in skeleton steel construction
An OSHA region asked when steel-frame construction counted as 'tiered' for temporary flooring rules. OSHA said floor design controlled and that different parts of one structure could require…
Insurance agents covered by ERISA pension plan
An insurer asked whether a pension plan for its agents counted as an ERISA plan when it viewed them as independent contractors. The Department treated agents classified as employees for FICA taxes…
Cash bonuses and IRA-linked supplemental bonuses
A trucking company asked whether cash bonuses and IRA-linked supplemental bonuses were ERISA pension plans. The Department said the cash bonus was not, but the IRA-linked program involved employer…
Conditional status of termination benefits plan
An employer asked whether its supplemental termination benefits plan was a pension plan and whether removing an annuity purchase feature would change that status. The Department deferred the first…
Travel insurance disclosures for unpaid volunteers
An association asked whether it had to give volunteer members a summary plan description for travel insurance. The Department said members serving voluntarily and generally without pay beyond travel…
Supreme Court rulings on labor-dispute denials and benefit hearings
ETA explained Supreme Court rulings upholding states’ authority to disqualify claimants affected by labor disputes and allowing benefit termination after notice and an interview without a prior full…
Investment manager allocation and named fiduciary duties
Pension fund fiduciaries asked how investment management and oversight duties would be divided. The Department said the named fiduciary need not manage another manager’s assets day to day but must…
Investment committee role and fiduciary status
An incoming pension investment manager asked whether serving on a committee and advising another manager made it a fiduciary for assets outside its own portfolio. The Department said those…
Pension fund indemnification of investment managers
Incoming pension fund fiduciaries and investment managers asked whether contractual indemnification by the fund complied with ERISA. The Department said the clauses did not themselves excuse…
Current payment of investment manager litigation expenses
Incoming pension investment managers asked whether the fund's payment of their litigation expenses as they arose was a prohibited transaction. The Department said current payment or reimbursement…
Backhoe swing-area barricades
A contractors' association asked about barricades around rotating backhoes. OSHA said the hazard needed employee protection and explained that, after a Review Commission decision on a type of…
Flammable-liquid rule for trowel mastic
A construction company asked whether a named trowel mastic fell under OSHA's flammable-liquid construction rule. OSHA said the general-industry definition of 'liquid' should be used and that the…
Prudent diversification of inherited pension assets
Incoming pension investment managers asked whether they had to sell loans and properties solely to diversify a portfolio they inherited. The Department said an economically prudent policy of…
Investment managers' duty to remedy later co-fiduciary breaches
Incoming pension investment managers asked how to address a breach by another fiduciary that occurred after they became fiduciaries. The Department said the described reporting and remedial steps…
Replacement torch tips under welding standards
A torch-parts maker asked if OSHA approved replacement welding tips. OSHA said it did not certify products in general, but interpreted the welding rule to include replacement tips made to the same…
Electrical work clearance on overhead cranes
An attorney asked if overhead cranes needed 30 inches of clearance near live electrical parts. OSHA said that minimum did not apply there; an 18-inch footwalk and protection of live parts by…
Medical association benefit program outside ERISA
Iowa’s insurance department asked whether a medical benefit association was an ERISA welfare plan. The Department said the association was not an employee organization because its members lacked a…
GFCI protection for portable-generator receptacles
A contractor asked whether portable or vehicle-mounted generator receptacles needed ground-fault protection. OSHA said the GFCI option covered qualifying 120-volt, 15- and 20-ampere receptacles in…
Pattern bargaining and Champion pension plan
Champion Spark Plug asked whether later bargaining for a supplemental retirement benefit related back to a pre-1974 agreement under an ERISA transition rule. The Department said it did on the stated…
When hard hats are required
A worker asked when OSHA required hard hats. OSHA said employers must assess the actual risk of head injury and provide and require protection where that risk exists. Its rules did not require every…
Affirmative action settlement fund outside ERISA
A canning-industry settlement fund asked whether ERISA covered its discrimination remedies and training. The Department said the training was incidental to the fund’s civil-rights purpose, so it was…
Exhausting heater gases in enclosed construction
A contractor asked about covering and venting a coke-gas heater in an enclosed construction area. OSHA said the cover had to route gases outdoors while keeping exposure within limits and following…
Horsemen association pension plan covered by ERISA
A horsemen association asked whether a pension plan it maintained was covered by ERISA. The Department said the association acted indirectly for employers in relation to the plan and that Title I…
Sankey toe guards and when foot protection is needed
A union representative asked about mandatory toe guards at a steel plant. OSHA said Sankey toe caps could provide adequate impact protection, but the employer had to assess where foot hazards…
Transfer of benefit fund surplus to local union
Fund trustees asked whether they could send accumulated surplus to a local union after ERISA took effect. The Department said the transfer would be a prohibited transaction regardless of when 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.