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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Unobstructed width of exit routes
A company asked whether vending machines and coat racks obstructed its exit routes. OSHA said the described hallways appeared to comply because they retained more than 44 inches of unobstructed…
Insurance renewal commissions outside pension plan definition
An insurance seller asked whether renewal commissions were ERISA pension benefits requiring vesting. DOL said the seller was not entitled to a renewal commission until the policy premium was paid.…
Voluntary employee stock purchase plan outside ERISA
A bank offered companies a specimen voluntary payroll-deduction plan for employees to purchase their employer's stock, with possible matching contributions and a right to withdraw at any time. DOL…
Pregnancy-related benefit disqualification after Turner
ETA explained that states should suspend blanket pregnancy-based unemployment benefit disqualifications after the Supreme Court’s Turner decision and assess individual ability to work. Current…
Stock plan participant investments in credit union shares
A stock-bonus plan proposed letting eligible participants direct part of their accounts into shares of an employee credit union. DOL concluded that the described participant-directed investment was…
Backup alarms on crawler cranes used for earthmoving
A contractor asked whether a crawler crane needed a backup alarm. OSHA said its crawler-crane provision had no such requirement. If the machine was used for earthmoving, however, the cited…
Valuing closely held employer securities for a plan
A proposed profit sharing plan sought advice on buying closely held employer stock at adjusted book value. DOL said it would not make an advance adequate-consideration determination for an…
Association-endorsed IRAs under ERISA Title I
An employer association planned to recommend an IRA program to members and receive an introduction fee, while participating employers would offer payroll deductions. DOL said the association acted…
Restricted withdrawals and pension plan coverage
A savings bank argued that liberal withdrawals kept its incentive savings plan outside ERISA’s pension definition. DOL found the handbook discouraged withdrawals and suspended contributions for…
Ventilation at powered-truck battery charging
An industrial supplier asked what adequate ventilation meant for powered-truck battery charging. OSHA said natural or mechanical ventilation had to keep hydrogen below its 4.1% lower explosive limit…
Testing lineman safety belts and straps
An equipment supplier asked OSHA to approve lineman safety belts and related devices. OSHA said it did not approve products; employers had to comply with applicable rules. It identified the…
Nominal pipe diameter for guardrails
A structural-steel company asked about the required diameter of pipe guardrails. OSHA referred to its nominal-diameter directive and said the described standard pipe met the guardrail size…
Reemployment and employee-funded pension benefits
A requester asked whether a retired pressman's pension could be suspended if he returned to work in an administrative quality-control role. DOL said the described multiemployer pension was funded…
Insurer sale of both a benefit policy and a required bond
A requester asked whether the insurer funding a benefit plan could also sell the required ERISA bond. DOL said selling a group policy to the employer alone did not make the insurer a plan party in…
Participant control of an individual pension account
A requester asked whether a participant directing an individual pension account had to meet ERISA's fiduciary prudence duty and could direct a prohibited transaction. DOL said the participant was…
Bolted cage hoops on fixed ladders
A manufacturer asked OSHA to review a fixed-ladder cage assembled with bolts rather than welds or rivets. OSHA said it could not approve a product; the design generally matched the cited figure, but…
Flammable-liquid storage warehouse classification
A wholesale distributor asked which flammable-liquid warehouse category covered buildings closed to customers and other companies. OSHA said the described buildings fell under the general-purpose…
Bank trustee's conflict as a secured employer creditor
DOL reviewed a proposed arrangement in which a plan's bank trustee was also a major secured creditor of the employer whose securities formed much of the plan's assets. DOL said the bank could not…
ERISA coverage of employee-funded vacation plans
A building-trades adviser asked whether vacation plans funded solely by employees were subject to ERISA. DOL said the described plans generally were welfare plans under ERISA whether or not they had…
Transportation racks under bakery machinery rule
A bakery asked whether its wheeled racks used to move finished products fell under a bakery equipment rule. OSHA distinguished those transportation racks from proof racks and said violations…
Electric blasting machine limitations
An OSHA regional office reviewed a described electric blasting unit. It said the device appeared to meet the cited electric-machine requirement, while other provisions still limited its use in…
Photochromic lenses in industrial safety eyewear
An optical company asked about photochromic lenses for industrial safety eyewear. OSHA said covered eye protection had to satisfy the full then-referenced ANSI standard and that photochromic lenses…
Variable-tint safety lenses under ANSI eye-protection rule
A chemical company asked whether variable-tint lenses met OSHA eye-protection rules and whether it should recall them. OSHA said the lenses did not meet the then-referenced ANSI standard where eye…
State instrumentality pension plan exemption
DOL was asked about a pension plan established by a wholly state-owned instrumentality and funded and administered by it. DOL concluded that the plan was established and maintained for the…
Fire protection district pension plan exemption
A fire protection district asked about its pension plan for paid and volunteer personnel, funded by the state, district property taxes, and paid employees. DOL found the district was a state agency…
Housing authority retirement program exemption
A housing authority with a HUD contribution contract asked about its employer- and employee-funded retirement program. DOL concluded the program was established and maintained by the authority for…
Regional school district insured plan exemption
A regional public school district board established and administered an insured plan with employer and employee contributions. DOL concluded the plan was established and maintained by the school…
Public library district retirement plan exemption
A public library district, described as an independent taxing governmental unit, asked about its municipal retirement fund participation. DOL found that the district established and administered the…
Regional sewage district employee plans exemption
A regional sewage district created by state legislation asked about insurance and municipal retirement plans for its employees. DOL found the district was a political subdivision and that its…
Irrigation district pension plan exemption
An irrigation district organized as a state political subdivision asked about its employer- and employee-funded plan administered by employer-appointed trustees. DOL concluded the plan was…
State valley authority retirement program exemption
A valley authority created by state legislation and described as a political subdivision asked about its employer-funded retirement program. DOL concluded the plan was established and maintained by…
Teachers pension fund loan and governmental status
A requester asked about a teachers pension fund loan to a city. DOL expressed a then tentative view that the fund was a governmental plan excluded from ERISA and, if so, its investments fell outside…
Unfunded management retirement program during plan transition
A company was replacing a long-standing pension system with profit sharing but retaining an unfunded supplement for 23 older managers. DOL found the legacy system an ERISA pension plan that…
Warehouse passage as a means of egress
A pump manufacturer asked whether a route through a warehouse could serve nearby buildings. OSHA described how exit signs, alternate exits, occupancy, and passage width affected the arrangement and…
Strength and scope of press flywheel guards
An OSHA region asked how strong press flywheel guards had to be. OSHA said the cited press rule applied regardless of the flywheel’s height and that guard brackets should contain the wheel if the…
Union dues transmitted through vacation funds
A building trades association asked whether vacation and holiday funds could transmit employee-authorized union working dues. DOL said amounts clearly designated in plan documents for transmission…
No participation-standard phase-in variance
A requester sought a three- or four-year delay for a client facing ERISA’s minimum participation requirements. DOL distinguished its authority over certain vesting, accrual, funding, and disclosure…
Fabricated PVC products and vinyl-chloride exposure
A chemical company petitioned for a change to the vinyl-chloride rule’s fabricated-product definition. OSHA explained that “release” meant enough vinyl chloride to likely expose workers at or above…
Joint and survivor annuity on participant-selected annuities
A defined contribution plan ordinarily paid cash but let participants direct their account value to an annuity. DOL said the joint and survivor requirements then in ERISA section 205 applied when an…
Early payment from a profit sharing plan
An employer asked whether it could pay departing participants’ profit sharing balances promptly or had to wait for a one-year break in service. DOL said the cited section 206(a) set a latest…
Union accident and death fund under ERISA
A union asked to exempt its accident and death benefit fund. DOL found it was an employee organization welfare plan and rejected comparisons to church plans and the statutory exclusion for plans…
Industrial sling rules and laundry nets
An industrial laundry group asked whether OSHA’s industrial-sling rule covered large laundry nets. OSHA said it had no standard under that provision for the nets.
Exit-door headroom and vertical machine guarding
An engineering company asked about emergency-door headroom and machine guards on vertical units. OSHA said the 6-foot-8-inch clearance applied regardless of door-closure hardware position. It…
Strength criterion for guardrail top rails
A construction engineer asked how to relate OSHA's 200-pound top-rail requirement to design stress. OSHA said the completed railing had to withstand that load applied in any direction at any point…
Employer hours records and multiemployer service credit
A multiemployer plan asked whether it had to obtain hours records from participating employers for participation and vesting credit. DOL said those records were reasonably accessible under the then…
Flagger garments for off-duty police officers
A contractors' association asked whether uniformed police working off duty as construction flaggers needed the garments required by OSHA's flagging rule. OSHA said they did when employed by the…
Who may prepare the EBS-1 plan description form
A requester asked whether an external adviser had to be a lawyer to prepare Form EBS-1. DOL said it had not designed the form as a legal document in that sense, especially its short and proposed…
Shareholder employee plan loan limitation
A professional corporation plan proposed lending to a physician who was a participant, trustee, and shareholder. DOL said section 406 generally barred party-in-interest loans unless section…
Trenching soils and first-aid access at construction sites
A contractors' association asked how several excavation and first-aid provisions applied. OSHA said limestone or granite could still need shoring depending on site conditions, described factors that…
Plan data disclosure to government commission
A union pension trust asked whether it could voluntarily disclose data to a government commission and pay production costs. DOL said government agencies were not parties in interest under the cited…
Public prepaid legal association outside ERISA welfare plan
In an amicus-style letter based on litigation allegations, DOL said a prepaid legal association soliciting the public appeared to be a business rather than a welfare plan established or maintained…
Frozen profit sharing trust still an ERISA plan
A law firm merger stopped future profit sharing contributions and froze vested trust accounts, with payment deferred to death, disability, retirement, or separation. DOL said stopping contributions…
Participant co-trustee bonding duties
DOL was asked whether a participant who was also a co-trustee of a small professional corporation's plan needed an ERISA bond. Section 412 applied to people handling assets of covered plans, subject…
Early retirement supplements exceeding Social Security benefits
DOL was asked about supplemental payments to early retirees under a defined benefit plan. It said the then section 204 rule allowed certain temporary amounts to be disregarded only up to Social…
Tunnel ventilation at atmospheric and compressed pressure
A state labor official asked how two tunnel ventilation provisions applied. OSHA said the 200-cubic-foot-per-minute-per-worker rule covered atmospheric-pressure tunnel work, not compressed-air work.…
Commerce coverage and small profit sharing plans
A requester asked about the commerce condition and small profit sharing plans. DOL said interstate purchases and communications could satisfy the commerce standard and that an NLRB policy decision…
Brakes on direct-drive power presses
A manufacturer asked how mechanical power-press rules applied to direct-drive presses. OSHA said their operating characteristics matched part-revolution clutches, so the cited rule required a…
Hose and piping for temporary construction heaters
A builders’ association asked about temporary heating equipment at construction sites. OSHA said hose had to be designed for 250 psi and kept as short as practical without heat damage. It also cited…
Severance benefits paid from general assets remain a welfare plan
DOL advised that a severance program within the regulatory maximum was a welfare plan even when the employer paid benefits from general assets. The payroll-practice regulation did not classify every…
Mutual fund holdings and plan diversification
A requester asked whether a small plan could place all assets in a mutual fund without violating ERISA diversification duties. DOL distinguished ownership of fund shares from the fund’s underlying…
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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.