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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Performance fees for an ERISA investment manager
An investment manager asked whether plan clients could pay it performance-based fees. EBSA said the described objective formula did not by itself violate section 406(b), because the manager could…
Guarding packaging and pelletizing machine pinch points
A manufacturer asked whether machinery sold without guards in the United States could expose workers to pinch points. OSHA said its machine-guarding rule requires the employer using the equipment to…
Crane clearance from energized substation lines
A worker asked whether an unqualified crane operator could move within ten feet of energized lines if supervised by a qualified electrician. OSHA said no and explained applicable construction and…
Reduced shift sampling for coke oven emissions
OSHA told regional administrators that three named steel companies could receive de minimis treatment when they sampled coke-oven exposures on one representative shift under stated conditions. The…
Employee access to material safety data sheets
A worker education center asked which OSHA rule governs requests for material safety data sheets. OSHA said the hazard communication rule requires sheets to be readily available during each shift in…
Former injury-recordkeeping rules for cross-border contractors
A contractor asked how to count Canadian employees temporarily working in the United States and where to keep injury logs for scattered jobs. OSHA answered under former Form 200 rules,…
Farmworker sanitation, machinery, and small-farm inspections
A member of Congress relayed concerns about farmworkers’ sanitation, machinery, and pesticide exposure. OSHA described its field-sanitation and equipment-guarding rules, its authority over serious…
Process safety coverage of flammable gas used in glass molds
A glass manufacturer asked whether its more than 10,000 pounds of flammable gas used to lubricate molds qualified for a workplace-fuel exception. OSHA said the process was covered by process safety…
East Islip teachers welfare trust as governmental
An East Islip teachers welfare fund asked whether it was excluded from ERISA Title I. EBSA relied on the union-administered fund’s government and member funding, public worker coverage, and one fund…
Small-employer threshold for former injury logs
A small employer asked whether its Form 200 exemption depended on how many people were working at one time. OSHA said the former threshold considered the whole firm in the preceding calendar year…
Asbestos surveys and owner disclosure of suspected materials
A lawyer asked whether building owners must sample suspect asbestos materials to meet survey and disclosure duties. OSHA said owners may treat suspect materials as asbestos instead of sampling,…
Group lockout verification at a power plant
A power plant asked whether every worker must personally verify energy isolation during a group lockout. OSHA said a designated primary authorized employee may perform the initial verification, but…
Toothed blades on portable cut-off machines
A fire department supplier asked about putting a toothed wood-cutting blade on a portable cut-off machine. OSHA said the modified machine would need guarding for both the upper and lower blade, as…
Employer safety duties for home-based work
An employer asked what OSHA duties apply when sales executives work from home. OSHA said employers remain responsible for work-related hazards, though they are not responsible for making the entire…
COBRA election notices for family members at one address
A requester asked whether a plan could send one COBRA election notice mailing for a worker, spouse, and dependent children at the same last-known address. EBSA said a single addressed mailing was…
OSHA rules and minors operating equipment
A senator forwarded a question about minors using large equipment. OSHA said its workplace safety rules apply to employees regardless of age and contain no separate minor-worker rules. It directed…
Hydraulic lockout and postal biohazard spills
A safety consultant asked how to lock out hydraulic equipment and what training postal workers need for leaking packages. OSHA said hazardous stored hydraulic pressure must be relieved or otherwise…
Exposure limits for extended work shifts
OSHA clarified how its field staff should assess noise and chemical exposures during shifts longer than eight hours. The memo said the noise action level, but not the noise permissible exposure…
Disclosure of former OSHA injury logs
A biomedical research employer asked who could obtain information from its former OSHA 200 injury log. OSHA said the employer appeared exempt from routinely maintaining that log under the…
Denied Claim Accuracy pilot findings and implementation plans
ETA reported findings from a five-state pilot that checked the accuracy of unemployment benefit denials and compared two review methods. It said a national program was still being designed and would…
Central repository and format for safety data sheets
A consultant proposed a national repository and standard format for material safety data sheets. OSHA said a central repository was technically possible but had not been recommended, and its…
Height of fixed industrial stair railings
An employer asked which of two OSHA provisions controlled the height of fixed industrial stair railings. OSHA said the fixed-stair rule referred to the separate stair-railing specification, so a…
Trailer chocking directive and cargo rules
A trucking association asked why OSHA’s trailer-chocking directive cited a Department of Transportation rule and whether OSHA would regulate shifting cargo. OSHA said the DOT citation helped…
Cleaning asbestos-containing floor tile
A flooring contractor asked which asbestos standard governs routine stripping and buffing of asbestos-containing tile. OSHA said the general industry standard usually applies, while the construction…
Oil and gas production under process safety management
OSHA told regional administrators that oil and gas production processes containing at least 10,000 pounds of flammable material were covered by its process safety management rule and rescinded…
When generic lockout procedures are sufficient
A consultant asked whether employers could use one generic lockout procedure for similar machines and write specific procedures only when repairs arise. OSHA said generic procedures alone are…
Forklift split-forking and bulldozing of pallets
A warehouse asked whether forklifts may move pallets by splitting the forks between loads or pushing loads ahead of the truck. OSHA said either practice violates the powered-truck rule if it leaves…
Handwashing access in medical exam rooms
A physician asked whether exam rooms need handwashing facilities under OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens rule. OSHA said rooms used only for noninvasive checks do not require them on that basis, but…
Silica in gaskets and hazard communication
A gasket maker asked whether products containing crystalline silica needed a material safety data sheet. OSHA said the manufacturer must determine the product’s hazards and whether it meets the…
Injury logs for employees without a fixed worksite
An employer asked where to keep former OSHA 200 injury logs for workers assigned away from its offices for months at a time. OSHA said records for workers without a fixed establishment could be kept…
Recording injuries after a nonwork fainting spell
An employer asked whether to record muscle strains from a fall at work when a nonwork medical condition caused the employee to faint. OSHA said the fainting itself was nonoccupational, but the fall…
Bloodborne exposure follow-up at a host hospital
A clinic asked who must provide postexposure care when its physicians encounter blood while working at a host hospital. OSHA said the clinic, as employer, must ensure follow-up at no cost to the…
Recording an aggravated knee condition at work
An employer asked whether to record a knee sprain after a worker turned in a workplace bathroom, given earlier knee discomfort outside work. OSHA said the employer must decide whether a workplace…
Site training for visiting pallet-jack drivers
A truck driver objected when a warehouse required its own training before visiting drivers could use warehouse-supplied power pallet jacks. OSHA said the host must ensure operators are trained for…
Free rigging below forklift tines
A federal worksite asked about attaching slings directly to forklift tines for a lift below the forks. OSHA said this can affect truck capacity and safe operation, so the employer must seek written…
Inspection and certification of forklift forks
A forklift company asked whether fork inspectors need a special certification and whether OSHA requires a specific ANSI fork-inspection procedure. OSHA said it had no inspector certification…
Training for earthmovers with forklift attachments
A trainer asked whether earthmoving loaders with fork attachments must meet powered-industrial-truck operator training rules. OSHA said equipment designed primarily to move earth remains outside…
Bloodborne pathogens rule for daycare first aid
An insurer asked whether OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens rule applied to daycare staff trained to give first aid to children. OSHA said first-aid education alone does not trigger the rule, but staff…
Spacing trench shields from excavation walls
A water utility asked how far a trench shield may stand from the trench wall. OSHA said its standard sets no maximum gap, but the shield must be installed so a cave-in cannot move it laterally and…
Web-based HAZWOPER refresher training
A training provider asked OSHA to approve a web-based HAZWOPER refresher course using videotaped skill demonstrations and a limited-hours trainer hotline. OSHA said it does not approve training…
Rotating solvent labels on one machine
A consultant asked whether one machine using four similar solvents could carry permanent hazard warnings and removable labels identifying the solvent in use. OSHA said the proposed system appeared…
Contingency reporting of unemployment data during system failures
ETA told state unemployment agencies how to submit essential reports if their systems or the federal SUN reporting system failed around the year 2000. Agencies were to collect data manually or…
Minimum disaster unemployment benefit amounts for late 1999
ETA supplied state agencies with a table of minimum weekly Disaster Unemployment Assistance amounts for major disasters declared from October 1 through December 31, 1999. The table shows average…
Timber shoring for grave excavations
A cemetery operator asked whether OSHA required costly metal shoring when digging graves. OSHA said its excavation rule allows employers to protect workers through shoring, sloping or an equivalent…
Cadmium limits at dry color formulators
Iowa’s labor commissioner asked how OSHA enforced its cadmium limit at dry color formulation operations after a court remand. OSHA said its officers had been instructed in 1994 not to enforce the…
Employee access to workplace drug-test records
An employer asked whether workers could see drug-test results under OSHA’s exposure and medical-records rule. OSHA said employees covered by that rule may access results kept in the employer’s…
Group tagout at power generating plants
An electric-utility group asked whether a supervisor could manage a crew-wide tagout without every worker using a personal device. OSHA said lockout is preferred and tagout must provide equivalent…
Reporting new-hire overpayment detections on ETA Form 227
ETA advised state unemployment agencies to report benefit overpayments found through new-hire data on Line 308 of Form ETA 227 and encouraged them to identify those results separately in the…
Classifying back cases on former OSHA logs
An employer asked to classify back disorders individually as injuries or illnesses on the former OSHA 200 log. OSHA said its then-current recordkeeping guidance required all back cases to be…
Lockout scope during machine servicing
An OSHA regional administrator asked how the lockout rule applies during servicing of operating machines, to nearby equipment and to minor recurring tasks. OSHA said servicing that exposes workers…
Third-party forklift training for construction workers
An operating engineers’ union asked how its shared forklift training could satisfy construction employers’ duties when members change jobs often. OSHA said qualified third-party trainers may conduct…
Voluntary respirator use and fit-test cleaning
A respirator supplier asked why OSHA’s inspection guidance appeared less protective than its respiratory standard. OSHA said voluntary use in a nonhazardous setting did not require a NIOSH-approved…
Lifting personnel with forklifts at construction sites
A safety engineer asked when forklifts or rough-terrain forklifts may raise workers on personnel platforms. OSHA said a truck whose manual forbids the use cannot do so; if the manual is silent, the…
Plan administrator review of questionable domestic relations orders
An airline asked how pension administrators should treat domestic relations orders suspected of being sham or invalid. EBSA said administrators should assess credible evidence and may seek guidance…
Fall and drowning protection for work above water
A marine contractor asked whether guardrails and life jackets were both needed for construction work over water. OSHA said workers six feet or more above water need fall protection, and continuous…
Waist straps in full-body fall-arrest harnesses
A safety equipment association asked whether OSHA’s definition of a body harness requires a waistbelt. OSHA said the cited construction and powered-platform rules neither require nor forbid a waist…
Forklift training rule and agricultural operations
OSHA clarified whether its powered-industrial-truck operator training rule applies to agricultural operations. Although a rulemaking preamble mentioned agricultural services, OSHA said it had not…
Settlement proceeds shared between pension and welfare funds
Welfare funds asked whether a pension fund could pay them a share of settlement proceeds under a prior sidebar agreement. EBSA said the cited prohibited-transaction rules did not bar payment where…
Interstate unemployment claims filed from and against Canada
ETA told state unemployment agencies to treat Canada as an agent state under the Interstate Benefit Payment Plan and not deny a claimant filing from Canada solely because the person was not…
Asbestos controls for brake and clutch repair
An equipment company asked when OSHA’s asbestos brake-and-clutch repair methods apply. OSHA said they cover components designed like passenger-car brakes or clutches when no more than 25 percent…
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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.