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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Profit-sharing trust sale of employer stock
A profit-sharing trust asked about selling its employer's over-the-counter stock back to the company for $2 per share. DOL explained the conditions for ERISA's qualifying-employer-securities…
Diversifying a plan's bank deposits
A bank asked whether ERISA capped the share of a benefit plan's assets that could be held in its certificates of deposit. DOL said the specific percentage limit in section 407 concerned qualifying…
Whether an ESOP stock valuer is a fiduciary
A consultant asked whether valuing closely held employer stock for prospective and existing employee stock ownership plans made it an ERISA fiduciary. DOL said work for an employer before a plan…
MPS fuel-gas cylinders below ground
A transit authority asked about stabilized methylacetylene-propadiene gas in below-ground construction. OSHA agreed with the proposed handling approach and added that only the day’s intended…
ERISA treatment of severance, bonuses and retiree payments
A requester sought clarification of ERISA treatment for severance pay, bonuses, individual retirement accounts and gratuitous retiree payments. DOL said a qualifying severance arrangement could be a…
Reconsideration of an ERISA benefit-fund coverage ruling
A union benefit fund asked how to seek review of DOL's ruling that it was covered by ERISA Title I. DOL said there was no formal review procedure and that its review of the existing information gave…
Whether an insurance seller is an ERISA plan sponsor
A state official asked whether an association offering a benefit arrangement to employers had become an ERISA plan sponsor and filed a plan description. DOL explained that an employer association…
Guaranteed retiree supplements as ERISA pension plans
An employer asked whether two retiree supplement programs were outside ERISA as gratuitous payments. DOL said they were pension plans because one promised vested supplements and the other guaranteed…
Individual pension promise treated as an employment contract
A former employee asked whether ERISA gave him relief under an individual agreement promising a pension at age 65. DOL concluded that the agreement was an employment contract rather than an ERISA…
Rejecting compressed-gas cylinders after external inspection
An insurer asked how the compressed-gas cylinder inspection provisions fit together. OSHA said external defects in the cited subsections governed rejection for old and new cylinders alike, and a…
Pension trust purchase of its custodial bank's stock
DOL was asked whether a hypothetical pension trustee's direction to a custodial bank to buy that bank's own stock for the plan would violate ERISA. DOL said the bank was a party in interest but…
ERISA reporting for a shareholder-only retirement plan
A requester asked whether any retirement plan covering only shareholders or their spouses avoided ERISA reporting. DOL said that was too broad: the rule excluded a plan with no employee participants…
Emissions from exempt carcinogen mixtures
A chemical producer asked whether dust, vapor, and liquid particles from an exempt low-concentration carcinogen mixture were also exempt. OSHA said unavoidable minute emissions could share the…
Hard hats for warehouse workers
A warehouse manager asked whether workers needed hard hats. OSHA recommended head protection where falling objects could strike forklift drivers or people walking aisles, while saying workers in…
ESOP purchase of a controlling stock block above market quotes
A proposed ESOP asked whether it could pay more than over-the-counter quotes for a controlling block of employer stock, citing third-party offers. DOL said that if independent current bid and ask…
Ventilation for electrostatic paint spraying
A manufacturer asked about ventilation for hand-held electrostatic paint guns. OSHA said the minimum maintained air velocity was 60 linear feet per minute or more depending on material and fire…
Denied variance for unguarded firebrick cutoff saw
A glass company sought a variance to operate a firebrick cutoff saw with its lower blade exposed. OSHA found a hazard from blade contact and flying material, suggested a hinged hood guard, and…
Compensation of union and management pension trustees
DOL was asked which of a jointly administered pension plan's twelve trustees could be paid for plan service. Full-time paid union officers and employer-side trustees could generally receive expense…
Pension fund investments linked to trustee and union directors
A multiemployer pension fund asked about investing in a bank with a plan trustee on its board and an insurer with a union president on its board. On the stated facts, DOL said neither board…
Insurance commission paid to an employer's employee
A requester asked whether a licensed insurance agent who also worked for the sponsoring employer could receive a commission for selling insurance to its profit-sharing plan. DOL said the employee…
Health care cooperative contracts and small-plan exemption
A health care cooperative asked whether employer and union plans using its prepaid medical contracts could qualify for a then small welfare plan reporting exemption. DOL agreed that the cooperative,…
Small insured welfare arrangement and partial exemption
An employer asked about its insured life, accident, and health arrangement covering fewer than 100 people. DOL found it was an ERISA welfare plan subject to reporting, disclosure, and fiduciary…
Funding standard start date for a collectively bargained plan
A pension plan asked whether its collective-bargaining history qualified it for ERISA's transition date for minimum funding standards. On the facts supplied, DOL found the plan had been maintained…
Repair and load testing of overhead-crane hooks
A crane-hook company proposed welding, inspection, heat treatment, and proof testing to recondition large hooks. OSHA said the procedures met or exceeded the cited rules but emphasized that a hook's…
Investment committee member serving on manager board
DOL was asked whether a plan investment committee member could remain a director of a trust company appointed as investment manager. It said ERISA section 408(c)(3) prevents section 406 liability…
Community scholarship fund outside ERISA
A labor council asked whether its five annual scholarships formed an ERISA welfare plan. DOL found the council and fund were employee organizations, but four scholarships were open to county…
MAPP gas in tunnels and covered cuts
A contractor asked whether MAPP fuel gas could be used in tunnels and temporarily covered cuts. OSHA said it was not liquefied petroleum gas under the cited rules and could be used for welding,…
Phototropic safety lenses and de minimis enforcement
An OSHA region asked how to treat phototropic safety lenses under the then-referenced ANSI eye-protection standard. OSHA said equipment used where eye injury was possible had to meet the full…
MPS gas for tunnel welding and cutting
A gas supplier asked how tunnel and welding rules applied to MPS fuel gas. OSHA said MPS was not LPG and could be used for listed welding, cutting, and heating work, including in tunnels, while…
MAPP gas in underground construction
A transit authority asked OSHA four questions about MAPP gas in underground construction. OSHA said it was not LPG and could be used for cutting, welding, and related heating under applicable…
Trust and reporting exemptions for an employee scholarship plan
An employee association asked to exempt its funded scholarship plan from ERISA trust and reporting requirements. DOL said the plan did not fall within the proposed trust exception and that the…
Portable and temporary lighting in explosive areas
An industrial cleaning contractor asked about temporary versus portable lights in an explosive atmosphere. OSHA said portable battery-operated lighting was limited to 12 volts under the cited…
Skid-steer rollover protection in agriculture
A manufacturer asked whether a skid-steer loader used in agriculture had to meet the tractor rollover-protection rule. OSHA answered no because the incorporated construction standard reserved…
State bank commingled funds under proposed ERISA reporting rules
A requester pointed out that a proposed reporting rule appeared to require state bank commingled funds to meet national-bank filing rules they could not satisfy. DOL said the proposal was not…
DOL role in an IRS pension-plan determination request
A correspondent asked DOL to help speed an IRS determination-letter application for a pension plan. DOL explained the statutory conditions for its own chance to comment on a plan qualification…
Bonding obligations of a fully insured pension plan
A small employer with a fully insured pension plan asked DOL for relief from ERISA bonding. DOL said its then temporary rules required a bond only if a plan official handled plan money or property.…
Guard heights for petroleum pumping units
A petroleum industry group asked how to guard moving cranks and connecting rods on pumping units. OSHA said no guard was needed without employee exposure; where exposure existed, the cited rule…
Consulting physicians and first-aid kit contents
A trade association asked who could act as a consulting physician for first-aid supplies and whether OSHA approved kits. OSHA said an appropriate physician could recommend a commercial kit, but the…
Removable toe caps as foot protection
An OSHA region asked whether removable toe caps could substitute for safety shoes. OSHA said the employer met the cited protective-equipment rule by providing the toe caps, although it encouraged a…
Broker-dealer registration and ERISA investment managers
A requester asked DOL to treat a broker or dealer registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 as an investment manager under ERISA section 3(38)(B). DOL declined, explaining that the…
Safety standards for logging and tree planting
An extension specialist asked which OSHA standards applied to logging and tree planting. OSHA said the then-cited pulpwood provision excluded certain logging operations, while general industry rules…
Guardrails at loading-dock edges
A trucking association asked how OSHA's floor-opening rule applied at loading docks. OSHA said an earlier exception concerned the active loading face, while other open dock edges four feet or more…
Link-chain platform rails and grounding questions
A person asked OSHA several questions about a construction project. OSHA said link chains could serve as platform rails if they met the cited height, strength, and intermediate-rail conditions; it…
Safety belts in aerial work baskets
An equipment maker asked whether wording in the aerial-lift rule excused a worker from wearing a safety belt in a basket. OSHA said it did not. It also cited requirements to stand on the basket…
Lathe guards, motor seals, and tank fill pipes
An insurer asked about guards on lathes, conduit seals on explosion-proof motors, and flammable-liquid tank fill pipes. OSHA said well-designed shields could guard the lathe danger zone, qualifying…
Single parcel leased by plan to related company
A profit sharing plan proposed constructing a building and leasing it to a company with common ownership. DOL found the proposed lease to a party in interest prohibited under section 406 and…
Apprenticeship plan trustee pay and ERISA duties
A requester asked whether apprenticeship plan trustees could be paid for time at a distant meeting. DOL said an hourly worker who lost wages while performing plan duties could receive plan…
Valuing purchased annuities as plan assets
In reply to a question about plan assets, DOL said annuities purchased by a plan, including reserves held by an insurer for previously purchased annuities, count as plan assets. It said to value…
Toilets in a nearby building on one premises
A business asked whether a smaller building needed its own toilets when a main building stood about 90 feet away. OSHA said the arrangement appeared to meet the cited sanitation rule if both…
Governmental status of county public school benefit plans
DOL was asked whether two county school benefit plans, administered by the school system and funded by both employer and participant contributions, were covered by ERISA. It concluded that the…
Bonding for a company forwarding plan checks and policies
A company asked whether forwarding checks and insurance-surrender paperwork for a benefit plan required its staff to be bonded. Under DOL's then temporary rules, it said merely forwarding checks…
Safety latches on hoist hooks
An insurer asked when lifting hooks needed throat latches. OSHA cited the mobile-crane provision calling for safety-latch hooks wherever possible. It said a hazardous unlatchable hoisting operation…
Load-indicating devices on shoreside cranes
An oil company asked when a shoreside crane needed a load-indicating device. OSHA explained the 11,200-pound maximum-outreach capacity threshold and a limited exception when conditions restricted…
Welfare plans exempt from pension participation standards
DOL was asked whether group health, life, and disability insurance plans had to meet ERISA participation standards. It classified the described plans as welfare benefit plans and said section 201(1)…
Bank tuition reimbursement from general assets
A bank asked whether its support for an education and recreation institute was covered by ERISA. DOL focused on the bank’s discretionary tuition refunds for successfully completed courses, paid…
Working alone around belt-driven machinery
A worker asked whether two people had to be present around belt-driven machines and motors. OSHA said it had no two-person requirement, but cited guarding requirements for belts and pulleys within…
Identical saw-guard requirements and citation grouping
An OSHA official discussed duplicate circular-saw guarding provisions that could produce multiple citations for one hazard. The memo noted penalty grouping under the then-current field manual and…
Plan land purchase after party in interest trustee resigns
A plan sought an exemption to buy land from the estate of a former participating employer’s sole shareholder. DOL found that the estate’s executor, formerly a plan trustee, had resigned, leaving no…
Guarding milling-machine cutters
An OSHA regional office asked about guarding stationary cutters on milling machines. OSHA said a conventional point-of-operation guard could sometimes interfere with work or introduce other hazards.…
Alternative guards for stationary milling-machine cutters
An OSHA region asked about guarding stationary cutters on milling machines. OSHA acknowledged that ordinary guards could interfere with work or create hazards and said splash shields, chip shields,…
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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.