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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Fixed-ladder cages, safety devices, and inspection emphasis
A congressman asked how OSHA enforced its fixed-ladder rule and whether a ladder safety device could replace a cage. OSHA said the rule allowed devices on qualifying tower, tank, and chimney ladders…
Tare-weight loss for low-pressure gas cylinders
An insurer asked whether the five-percent tare-weight-loss threshold applied to low-pressure compressed-gas cylinders. OSHA said it did and that cylinders reaching the threshold had to be destroyed…
Use of a welfare fund's remaining assets for dental benefits
DOL could not decide whether a union welfare fund could spend its remaining assets on dental benefits without the plan terms and information about accrued benefits. It said the purchase would need…
Bonding and reporting for an insured welfare plan
DOL said bonding was generally unnecessary when employer contributions remained in its general assets until used directly to buy insurance, though returned funds could change that answer. The…
Funded faculty retirement policy and top hat exemption
DOL concluded that the described faculty and staff retirement policy did not qualify for the ERISA funding exception for unfunded plans serving a select group of managers or highly compensated…
Successor fiduciary duties after a predecessor's breach
DOL said ERISA section 409(b) does not make a successor fiduciary liable for a breach committed before that person became a fiduciary. A successor who learns of a predecessor’s breach must still…
Employee-owned stock purchase plan outside ERISA pension definition
A company asked whether a discounted stock purchase plan for selected officers and employees was an ERISA pension plan. DOL found participants became sole owners of purchased shares and could…
Redeemable annuity contracts still covered by ERISA
A requester asked whether two tax-deferred annuity contracts were covered plans when participants could terminate and redeem contributions at will. DOL said the contracts still offered retirement…
ERISA qualification of unlicensed public accountants
A requester asked whether DOL would qualify unlicensed accountants to audit ERISA plans. DOL said its certification authority applied only where a state had no accounting certification or licensing…
Assumed pension obligations after a business transfer
DOL concluded that a company which assumed a predecessor's pension payment obligations maintained an ERISA employee pension benefit plan. Freezing further pension credits did not itself end ERISA…
Sole owner pension plan outside ERISA Title I
A sole shareholder asked whether a pension plan covering only that shareholder was subject to ERISA. DOL applied the then regulation excluding a wholly owned business owner from employee status and…
Individual retirement compensation contract outside pension plan definition
A company asked about an agreement with a departing employee who owned half its stock, providing additional retirement compensation for past services and specified consideration. DOL characterized…
Crane hook latches and withdrawn connector guidance
An ironworkers' apprenticeship committee asked about crane-hook safety clips and steel-connector tie-offs. OSHA said the cited crawler, locomotive, and truck crane rule did not itself require safety…
County sanitary authority pension plan exemption
A county sanitary authority asked whether its contributory pension plan was governmental. DOL considered the authority’s state charter, public appointments, and board control over the plan…
County medical care facility benefit plan exemption
A medical care facility established by three counties asked about its life insurance and retirement programs, including voluntary employee supplemental contributions. DOL found the facility was an…
Severance plans as ERISA welfare plans
A requester asked whether two severance plans outside the then pension plan regulation were welfare plans. DOL answered yes, if the plans met ERISA section 4(a)’s other coverage requirements,…
Retirement-eligible severance payments as welfare benefits
A corporation proposed limited severance payments to retirement-eligible workers during a workforce reduction. DOL said the proposed payments would not constitute a pension plan under its then…
County-owned hospital pension plan exemption
DOL was asked whether a county-owned hospital's pension plan was governmental. On the submitted facts that the hospital was a wholly owned county instrumentality and maintained the plan for its…
Air-curtain guns under compressed-air cleaning rule
An OSHA regional office asked whether an air gun with an air curtain met the compressed-air cleaning rule. OSHA said such guns were acceptable if they met section 1910.242(b) and its 1972 program…
Union education and training fund as welfare plan
DOL was asked whether a union education and training fund offering technical, educational, and cultural courses was an ERISA welfare plan. It said section 3(1) covers apprenticeship or other…
Office paper cutters and hand-tool safety
A safety consultant asked whether point-of-operation rules covered hand-operated paper cutters and other sharp tools. OSHA said guarding provisions were not confined to powered machinery, and the…
Shoring and sloping requirements for trenches
A construction company asked how the trenching rule applied to shoring and sloping. OSHA said shoring must start at the bottom of a trench, including in soft ground, and that even trenches under…
Bonding an ERISA plan through an administrator-owned agency
A plan administrator sought an exemption so an insurance agency he partly owned could procure the plans' required bonds. DOL said ERISA section 412(c) barred procuring a required bond through an…
Training contractor party in interest determination
An employer council and unions agreed that the council's executive director was a possible contractor for their jointly bargained training trust. DOL found the council was an ERISA employer and…
Spray-booth floor covering and power-press controls
An insurer asked whether daily-replaced cardboard panels were allowed on a spray-booth floor and how to guard a mechanical power press. OSHA rejected the cardboard and explained safeguards for foot…
Union legal, collection and office-space services to benefit plans
A requester asked whether Taft-Hartley plan trustees could retain the union's lawyer, pay the union for collecting overdue contributions, and sublease office space to it. DOL said service…
Adequate consideration for restricted stock bought by a plan
A stock-bonus plan asked whether it could buy shares from parties in interest at an exchange-based price when resale of the shares would be restricted. DOL did not approve that pricing rule, saying…
Protective-equipment costs and requested overtime
A senator forwarded a worker's questions about who paid for safety glasses and hard hats and whether workers could refuse more than 40 hours a week. OSHA said its standards then required protective…
Pension service credit despite delinquent employer contributions
In response to complaints filed in ten lawsuits, DOL said a pension plan could not deny service credit solely because a participating employer failed to pay required contributions. DOL also said it…
Cotton-gin equipment guarding questions
An agricultural extension specialist asked ten questions about cotton-gin guarding. OSHA explained when projecting shafts needed sleeves, when walls or guardrails could qualify, how to size…
Exits, battery ventilation, and portable eyewash in small buildings
An engineering firm asked about exits and safety facilities in small buildings visited only rarely by employees. OSHA said buildings of the described size did not need two exits, cited…
Wire-rope knots in material handling
An OSHA regional office asked about a trucking-company wire-rope citation. OSHA quoted the construction rule against securing wire rope by knots, except scraper haul-back lines, and noted a separate…
Emergency eyewash and showers for battery and chemical exposure
A food processor asked when emergency flushing facilities were needed around batteries, cleaning products, and strong acids or alkalis. OSHA said charging alone did not trigger its rule if battery…
Crane swing-radius barricades versus audible alarms
A crane company asked whether audible alarms could replace barricades around the rotating rear of a crane. OSHA said alarms did not adequately protect people entering the swing radius and that the…
Employer responsibility for safety rules and protective equipment
A senator asked about worker compliance with safety rules and use of protective gear. OSHA said the Act placed compliance responsibility on employers, gave OSHA no sanctions against employees, and…
When a locker room needs a second exit
A paper machinery company asked whether a locker and washroom needed more than one exit. OSHA said its rule did not automatically require two: occupancy, fire risk, and similar hazards governed…
Toilet facility access and location
An attorney asked OSHA to clarify workplace toilet-facility requirements. The regional office described the then-applicable toilet and lavatory counts, said the rule set no specific distance or…
Seed-corn processing under farm or industry rules
An attorney asked which machine-guarding standards applied to seed-corn processing. OSHA said agricultural operations used its Part 1928 farm-equipment rules, while processing outside an…
Proof-tested chain-sling components and tags
A consultant asked whether replacing or adding a proof-tested component required retesting an alloy-steel chain sling. OSHA said no whole-sling retest was needed if the component was not weakened.…
Cut-and-cover excavation versus tunnel standards
An OSHA regional administrator asked which rules apply to cut-and-cover tunnel construction. OSHA said an open cut used excavation standards. If a cover restricted employee access, air movement,…
ERISA preemption of state health-plan licensing
DOL reviewed a state health-care service plan law after a state official tentatively said employer health plans needed licenses under it. DOL's 1976 view was that ERISA preempted the state law to…
Proof testing assembled alloy-chain slings
An OSHA office asked about proof-testing an alloy-steel chain sling assembled from tested parts. OSHA said an assembled unit did not need a new test when its chain segments and components had proof…
Agricultural equipment guarding by location
A farm-equipment maker asked how agricultural guarding rules applied to servicing and flywheel guards. OSHA said guarding by location depends on whether workers could inadvertently reach a hazard…
Trench-bank definition and shoring in clay
An OSHA area director asked how the trenching rule treated banks and clay soil. OSHA said a nearby hill or vertical face could affect trench sides, and that clay's variable properties required the…
Employees on crane-suspended platforms versus loads or hooks
A District of Columbia safety official asked whether OSHA's crane directive allowed workers to ride a load or hook. OSHA said it did not, while special guarded platforms suspended from cranes could…
OSHA product approval and safety-data sheets
A manufacturer asked about product approval and safety information. OSHA said it could not approve or recommend products; listed approval had the specific meaning in the cited spray-finishing rule.…
Illumination of workplace exit signs
An engineer asked how bright workplace exit signs had to be and when signs needed internal lighting. OSHA said normal lighting could supply the required illumination where adequate, while…
Farm-equipment guard strength and location
A farm-equipment manufacturer asked about guard strength, tractor shields, and guarding by location. OSHA said guards should resist reasonably predictable forces, including a vertical fall where…
Scope of alloy-steel chain-sling rules
A chain supplier asked whether OSHA’s sling rule covered other chain types. OSHA said the cited general-industry section was limited to alloy-steel chain slings and their use. Other chain slings…
Radial-arm saw guards versus sawmill guidance
A saw owner asked whether an OSHA sawmill memorandum applied to radial-arm saw guards. OSHA said the memorandum concerned large saws in sawmills under section 1910.265 and did not classify them as…
Guarding hand-operated paper cutters
An OSHA region asked about hand-operated paper cutters. OSHA said both the safe-tool rule and point-of-operation guarding rule applied, and described spring-loaded blades, barriers, and latches used…
Mercury airborne concentration measurement
An OSHA memorandum clarified how regional offices should apply the mercury value in Table Z-2. It said the 0.1 mg/m³ airborne concentration was determined as a full-shift time-weighted average.
Stock trust assignment of merger debenture rights
A stock-bonus trust expected to receive employer-related debentures in a merger and proposed selling its rights to some of them before closing. DOL said an effective advance sale or irrevocable…
Photo-grey safety lenses for telecommunications work
A congressman asked whether photo-grey lenses were acceptable eye protection for a telecommunications worker. OSHA said it did not approve products; covered eyewear had to meet the then-referenced…
ERISA preemption of a state prepaid health-care act
A Hawaii official questioned why ERISA would displace the state's prepaid health care law when ERISA did not itself provide health benefits. DOL answered that ERISA covered welfare as well as…
Controls on extensible aerial ladders
An equipment maker asked whether an extensible aerial ladder needed upper and lower controls under OSHA’s vehicle-mounted platform rule. OSHA said that provision applied to extensible and…
Showers and eating areas under sanitation rules
A union representative asked whether OSHA required showers and lunch areas. OSHA said showers were required when a specific standard said so, with one shower per ten workers of each sex in those…
ERISA bonding exemption for a financial institution's own plan
DOL was asked whether a plan already named under a bank's blanket bond needed coverage without a $1,000 deductible after the insurer declined to remove it. DOL said its then temporary rules did not…
Diversification of a plan invested entirely in fixed income
A trust asked whether putting all its assets in diversified fixed-income securities met ERISA's diversification requirement. DOL declined to rule on the portfolio's factual risk and said the broader…
Bonding a fully insured small pension plan
A small employer with a fully insured pension plan asked for an ERISA bonding exemption. DOL said its then temporary rules required bonding only for an official who handled plan funds or property.…
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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.