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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Citing a violation while an earlier citation is contested
OSHA considered whether to cite an employer for another apparent violation when an earlier citation was still being contested. It said the second violation should still be cited and would be…
Timing and survivor rights for vested pension benefits
A requester asked about a fully vested employee leaving before retirement age. DOL said full vesting did not require immediate payment if the plan set payment at normal retirement age. It referred a…
Nonprofit organizations and ERISA commerce coverage
A requester asked whether nonprofit organizations were outside ERISA. DOL said nonprofit status alone provided no exemption where activities affected commerce, absent another statutory or regulatory…
Bond procurement through interested insurance agents
An insurance agency sought relief in case plan bonds procured through related agents violated ERISA section 412(c). DOL said it could not grant an exemption from that prohibition and explained the…
Voluntary stock purchase plan outside ERISA
A specimen plan let employees buy employer stock through payroll deductions with possible employer contributions and withdraw their account value at any time. DOL found no statutory welfare benefit…
State plan reporting before ERISA preemption
A requester wanted DOL to stop a state board from demanding a plan report. DOL said ERISA section 514 preemption began January 1, 1975, so the state could still require its Form R-2 for prior…
Perimeter rail installation on decked steel floors
A steel contractor asked when to install a perimeter safety railing on a decked floor. OSHA agreed that installation before adjacent decking was in place would be hazardous. A later correction…
Construction bus operating on a road open to public traffic
A construction employer sought a variance for a bus carrying employees over a paved road used by public traffic. OSHA said the described trip did not fall under its off-highway jobsite motor-vehicle…
Union bond purchases as current compensation
DOL found that bonds a union bought monthly for its secretary, which immediately became her property, were current compensation rather than an ERISA pension plan. The conclusion depends on the…
Sleeve guards over motor and pump couplings
A pump company asked whether a metal sleeve bolted over a motor coupling met the guarding rule. OSHA said the described design complied with the cited provision, while the company could make that…
Self-insured welfare plans and state insurance law
A requester asked whether a state law imposing insurance-company requirements on employers self-insuring their workers was preempted. DOL said section 514’s insurance savings clause did not preserve…
Swinging gates at fixed-ladder landings
An engineer asked whether swinging gates were needed at fixed-ladder landings. OSHA said the cited gate requirement applied to ladderway floor openings and platforms, not landings with fixed ladders…
No postponement of ERISA bonding requirements
A plan asked DOL to postpone ERISA bonding. DOL said the statute granted no postponement authority. Under the then temporary regulation, bonding applied to fiduciaries whose duties created a risk of…
Employer stock certificates exchanged on reincorporation
Two pension plans would exchange employer stock certificates one for one during a corporate reincorporation. On the exact facts represented, DOL concluded the exchange was not prohibited under…
Fire-extinguishing systems in spray booths
An insurer asked how spray-booth filter and fire-protection rules worked together. OSHA said approved dry-chemical or carbon-dioxide systems could substitute for sprinklers in the cited setting,…
Prospective adjustment of bargained pension benefits
A bargained pension arrangement asked whether benefits or contribution rates could be adjusted when projected contributions could not support benefits. DOL said ERISA did not set the plan’s benefit…
DOL involvement in pre-ERISA benefit suit
A requester who had filed a suit seeking benefits for a plan participant wrote to DOL. DOL said Title I’s substantive provisions did not apply retroactively to the pre-effective-date cause of…
Measuring ventilation at plating-tank hoods
A steel company asked how to check airflow at plating tanks where some ducts were lined. OSHA described hood-edge measurements, contaminant sampling, and a modified Pitot tube, while later striking…
Electrical motors near spray operations
A metal-cladding company asked where electrical motors could be located near a spray operation. OSHA said motors in the described flammable atmosphere had to meet the cited electrical requirements…
Impartial chair bonding in multiemployer plans
A transit plan asked whether an impartial chair who resolved trustee deadlocks needed bonding. DOL assumed trustees handled assets and said the chair’s full voting powers made the chair subject to…
Employment of a plan trustee’s relative
A plan asked whether a qualified and reasonably paid relative of a trustee could work as claims representative. DOL said a statutory relative was a party in interest and the service arrangement…
Side-rail extensions and grab rails at ladder landings
A construction employer asked when ladder side rails must extend above a landing. OSHA said manufactured portable wood or metal ladders need not have their rungs removed above the landing, while…
Counterweights on the carrier of a maritime crane
A wharf company sought a variance for counterweights on the truck portion of its mobile cranes. OSHA said the cited restriction concerned the crane, not the truck or carrier, so the described…
Small profit sharing plan bonding
A requester asked for a minimum employee count below which bonding would not apply. DOL said ERISA had no such numerical exemption. Under the then temporary rule, fiduciaries whose duties put plan…
Low doorways and a de minimis exit-route notice
A tannery requested a variance for two low doorways on exit routes. OSHA reviewed other exits, padding, warning signs, and limited occupancy, then said the condition could receive a de minimis…
Footwear clicking machines and machine guarding
A footwear industry lawyer asked which guarding rule covered clicking machines. OSHA said they were outside the mechanical-power-press rule but remained subject to the general machine-guarding rule;…
Crane fire extinguishers during nonworking hours
A contractor sought a variance from carrying fire extinguishers in crane cabs after work ended. OSHA said the cited standards required them during crane operations, not nonworking hours without…
When cut-and-cover subway work becomes tunnel work
OSHA was asked when its tunnel construction standards apply to cut-and-cover subway work. It said a section becomes a tunnel once completed and backfilled, and listed the conditions for citing an…
Two-hand molding-press controls and accidental operation
A plastics company asked whether two-hand molding-press buttons needed surrounding guards. OSHA said the controls had to be protected against unintended operation and that their location or height…
Crane lifts over energized power lines
A utility asked about crane lifts over energized lines. OSHA said workers should be protected by de-energizing the system or by blanketing the lines and using a crane boom shield, and it referred to…
Distinguishing stair railings from handrails
An OSHA region asked about railing specifications for stairs. OSHA distinguished handrails from stair railings, explained that posts and brackets were part of their assemblies rather than separate…
Independent contractor retirement plan outside ERISA
DOL was asked whether a retirement plan for a hospital's independent contractors was an ERISA pension plan. It said a plan covering contractors and no employees was outside ERISA, while worker…
Recordkeeping for injuries aboard fishing vessels
A seafood company asked whether injuries aboard tuna boats outside U.S. territorial waters belonged in its OSHA reporting data. OSHA said excluding them would conflict with the reporting scheme's…
Participant direction and fiduciary liability under ERISA
A requester asked whether participant-directed individual account transactions were exempt from ERISA. DOL said section 404(c) did not exempt all such transactions; it limited fiduciary liability…
Protective clothing when cleaning vinyl-chloride vessels
A tire manufacturer sought a variance from protective-clothing requirements for employees working around vinyl-chloride residue inside vessels. OSHA said the employees could still contact residue…
Lighting fixtures near spray booths
A person asked OSHA to approve lighting fixtures for spray booths. OSHA said it could not approve products and described the then-cited rule for lighting outside the booth through transparent…
Appeals promptness after the Fusari decision
ETA explained that the Supreme Court’s Fusari decision made the speed and adequacy of benefit appeals central to the fairness of unemployment determination procedures. The letter remains on ETA’s…
Working alone briefly in an electrical manhole
An electrical workers' union asked when a worker may enter a manhole alone under the power transmission and distribution rule. OSHA said another employee must generally be available nearby, but…
Rungs above a ladder landing
A construction association asked whether rungs must be removed when a ladder extends more than 36 inches above a landing. OSHA said the cited standards did not require removing those rungs to let…
Railroad insurance premium payroll checkoff
Railroad workers purchased individually issued insurance policies, and their employers only deducted and remitted premiums. DOL said that checkoff alone did not show employer or union establishment…
Calculating the stopping distance of a rubber mill
A machinery company asked how to calculate a mill's stopping distance under OSHA's rule. OSHA said to multiply the running speed in feet per minute by the rule's 1.5% constant, then convert feet to…
Fixed-ladder rung spacing and variance request
A food company sought a variance because the first step of several fixed ladders would vary in height while the remaining rungs were spaced 12 inches apart. OSHA said the arrangement met the rule's…
Manufacturer specifications for a construction crane
A power company sought a variance for a construction crane. OSHA said the described crane met the cited manufacturer's specifications if inspected, maintained, and serviced as the certificate…
Funding of a bargained defined benefit pension plan
A company asked whether its bargained nonqualified pension plan was subject to minimum funding rules. DOL said the uninsured defined benefit plan fell within no cited exception and would be covered…
Wire-rope clips on crawler-crane running ropes
A construction company sought a variance because it used wire-rope clips on crawler-crane running ropes. OSHA said the cited ban on clips forming eyes applied to bridles and slings, not to the…
Participant loans and ERISA prohibited-transaction relief
A requester asked about loans from a pension plan to employees. DOL described a transition for qualifying contracts in effect July 1, 1974, ending June 30, 1984. It said other loans were prohibited…
Fiduciary compensation transition interpretation
A requester asked how a then interpretive bulletin treated pay to plan fiduciaries already receiving full-time employer or union compensation. DOL said section 408(c)(2)’s expense-only clause was a…
Broker-dealer discretion under interim exemption
DOL answered a request about a then interim securities-industry exemption. Merely giving advice did not by itself make a broker-dealer a discretionary adviser or controller. Actual discretionary…
Suspending vested pensions for competitive activity
A pension plan permitted suspension of retiree benefits for activity deemed competitive or prejudicial to the employer. DOL said ERISA’s then vesting standards did not allow that reason for…
Employer or union prepaid legal plans are welfare plans
DOL stated that prepaid legal service plans established or maintained by an employer or employee organization fall within ERISA’s welfare-plan definition and are subject to Title I parts 1 and 4.…
Flying-scale guards on forging hammers
A forge sought a variance from the requirement for a scale guard behind its hammers. OSHA said the described operation fell outside that requirement because operators worked around the hammers and…
Indicia of plan asset ownership abroad
A requester asked about ERISA section 404(b)’s ban on keeping indicia of plan asset ownership outside U.S. court jurisdiction absent regulation. DOL said the rule concerned evidence of ownership,…
When a city firefighter pension is outside ERISA
A retired city firefighter asked whether ERISA guaranteed pension payments after a disaster. DOL said that, if the pension plan was established and maintained by the city for its employees, it was a…
Self-adjusting lower guards on radial saws
A college asked OSHA to approve a plastic lower-blade guard for radial saws. OSHA said it did not approve proprietary products, but the described guard appeared to meet the rule because it adjusted…
Fan blade guards and variance request
A grocery company sought relief from guarding fan blades near employees. OSHA said limiting the fans to low speed was not an acceptable substitute for guards and suggested disconnecting decorative…
Insurance general account policies as plan assets
A requester asked about fiduciary responsibility when a plan buys policies backed by an insurer’s general account. DOL said the policies, rather than the insurer’s underlying assets, were plan…
Student workers and pension eligibility
An educational institution sought a permanent exclusion for full-time student employees. DOL said ERISA broadly defined employee and gave the Secretary no authority to grant such an exemption. It…
Protective gear for supermarket meat cutters
A senator asked when supermarket meat cutters needed protective equipment and what happened if workers refused it. OSHA said gear was required when it could prevent a reasonably probable injury;…
State-regulated retirement association as insurer for trust rule
A nonprofit retirement association asked whether its annuity contracts qualified for ERISA section 403(b)’s insurance exception to the trust requirement. Based on state licensing, insurer-like…
Emergency lighting and floor-load signs
A postal safety official asked about exit lighting and floor-load signs for private employers. OSHA said its then-current rule required reliable exit illumination but no separate emergency-lighting…
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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.