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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Toeboards at scaffold swing gates
A scaffold supplier asked whether a fixed toeboard was required across an inward-swing access gate even if it caused a trip hazard. OSHA said workers below must be protected from falling objects,…
Training log-skidder operators
A pulpwood association asked whether log skidders must follow OSHA’s powered-industrial-truck operator training rule. OSHA said tree-felling operations are governed by the logging standard, whose…
Saccharin respirator fit-test procedure
A respirator tester asked whether sizing devices and fewer nebulizer squeezes were allowed in a saccharin fit-test screen. OSHA said a sizing aid may be used and the tester may stop squeezing once…
Review of a rough-terrain forklift training course
A masonry association asked OSHA to review its rough-terrain forklift operator course. OSHA said the package addressed the topics in its then-current powered-industrial-truck training standard and…
Successor manager financial history under QPAM exemption
A reorganized investment manager asked whether its predecessor partnership’s prior financial year counted toward the financial requirement of prohibited transaction exemption 84-14. EBSA said it…
Demolition of materials with under one percent asbestos
A safety consultant asked which construction asbestos requirements apply when demolition material contains less than one percent asbestos. OSHA said the work is outside the designated asbestos-work…
Portable breathing-air compressor monitoring
A military safety officer asked whether portable compressors supplying respirator air require samples to prove Grade D air quality. OSHA said the cited compressor provisions do not apply to portable…
Sampling metal exposures during abrasive blasting
An industrial hygienist asked where to place personal air-sampling cassettes during abrasive blasting with a respirator hood. OSHA said the inlet belongs near the worker’s breathing zone but outside…
Radiation dose readings outside protective aprons
A nuclear cardiology group asked whether a weighted formula could combine radiation badge readings from under an apron and at the neck. OSHA said that approach did not conform to its…
Recording hepatitis B boosters after workplace exposure
A health plan asked whether a hepatitis B booster given after a workplace blood exposure made the incident recordable. OSHA said the exposure was an occupational injury and the booster was medical…
UCFE coverage for people paid by federal agencies on a contract or fee basis
ETA told state unemployment agencies that a person paid by a federal agency on a contract or fee basis was excluded from federal employee unemployment coverage if the person was ineligible for…
Closeout of JTPA state formula-funded activities
ETA instructed states how to close their 1998 and 1999 Job Training Partnership Act formula grants as the Workforce Investment Act took effect. States had to transfer participants to WIA, reserve…
Impalement hazards from lightning rods and rebar
A protective-cap maker asked whether OSHA’s rebar impalement rule also governs exposed lightning rods. OSHA said the cited section applies only to reinforcing steel, though other sharp-object…
Fall protection while framing residential roofs
A builder asked how workers could be protected from falls while raising trusses and framing a residential roof. OSHA described ground assembly followed by crane lifting, or truss braces, platforms…
Using video alone for construction safety training
A safety trainer asked whether employers could rely entirely on videos for construction safety training. OSHA said the instruction must be effective for the workers’ language, education and actual…
UI PERFORMS measures and minimum state performance criteria
ETA established minimum criteria for state unemployment insurance performance measures, including payment timeliness, appeals, nonmonetary decisions, and employer tax administration. States missing…
Hearing protectors under the noise standard
A worker wrote about a rumored plan to lower OSHA’s workplace noise limit. OSHA said it had no such plan in 1999 and explained that employers had to make hearing protectors available at an…
Accreditation association employees in CalPERS
A requester asked whether adding 28 employees of a California accreditation association would affect CalPERS’s governmental-plan status. Relying on the requester’s figures that all nongovernmental…
Asbestos exposure limit and residual risk
An industrial hygienist asked why OSHA’s asbestos limit did not eliminate significant risk. OSHA said lower airborne levels could not then be measured reliably in workplaces, so it paired the 0.1…
Biohazard labels on shipped human specimens
A courier asked how to label shipping boxes containing blood and related human specimens. OSHA said it would accept a DOT infectious-substance label on outer containers where DOT rules applied,…
Recording lacerations closed with skin adhesive
An employer asked whether topical skin adhesive used on a workplace cut was a wound covering or medical treatment for former OSHA 200 logs. OSHA said it was a wound closure, like sutures or adhesive…
Assigning injury cases to establishment logs
A steel employer asked which area’s injury log should list a worker temporarily assigned within one facility. OSHA said separate logs were required for distinct establishments, with a case recorded…
Overtime in the normal FMLA workweek
WHD explained how overtime affects the normal workweek used to calculate FMLA leave. Overtime that is part of the employee’s usual schedule is included, and missed qualifying hours may count against…
Fiscal 2000 funding requests for state ICON programmers
ETA told state unemployment agencies to seek fiscal year 2000 supplemental funding for an ICON programmer because that position was omitted from their initial planning targets. States were asked to…
Disinfectants for HIV and HBV contaminated surfaces
A publisher asked whether EPA-registered products effective against both HIV and hepatitis B could disinfect contaminated work surfaces. OSHA said its 1997 revision accepted them under the…
Choosing an establishment injury log
A pharmaceutical employer asked which of its two facilities should record an injury when a worker was temporarily at the other site. OSHA said the case belonged on the log for the establishment…
Penalty criteria for willful hazards to young workers
OSHA told regional offices to consider willful safety or health violations that seriously endanger workers under 18 for violation-by-violation penalty handling. The memo directed edits to its…
Referring child-labor hazards between OSHA and WHD
OSHA reminded its regional and area offices to use a referral system with the Wage and Hour Division for matters involving workers under 18. The 1999 memo directed staff to review the earlier…
Meaning of repeated safety violations
A manufacturers’ association asked how OSHA defined a repeated violation after a court decision. OSHA said a substantially similar earlier violation by the same employer could make a new one…
Inspecting complaints about hazards to minors
OSHA told field offices that serious hazard complaints involving workers under 18 in construction, manufacturing or agriculture would normally prompt an on-site inspection instead of a phone or fax…
Penalty assessment for hazards to young workers
OSHA told field staff to consider a worker’s youth and inexperience when assessing the probability of harm from a violation. It also directed staff evaluating an employer’s good faith to consider…
Process safety management and stored flammable liquids
An employer asked whether a manufacturing site with more than 10,000 pounds of flammable liquids in containers was covered by OSHA's process safety management standard. OSHA said it lacked the…
Fiscal 2000 State Quality Service Plan instructions
ETA told state unemployment agencies how to prepare their fiscal 2000 State Quality Service Plans. It allowed use of the draft 16th edition of Handbook No. 336 pending federal approval, identified…
When construction gas cylinders count as stored
A construction contractor asked when oxygen and fuel-gas cylinders must meet separation rules. OSHA said cylinders are in storage when gas is not reasonably expected to be drawn within 24 hours,…
Minimum weekly disaster unemployment assistance amounts, July–September 1999
ETA directed state unemployment agencies to use the attached state-by-state minimum weekly Disaster Unemployment Assistance amounts for major disasters declared from July through September 1999. The…
Hepatitis B vaccination travel cost and time
A firefighters’ union asked who pays for travel to hepatitis B vaccination and whether the time counts as work. OSHA said employers must cover travel costs and offer the procedure at a reasonable…
Outside employment during FMLA leave
WHD answered whether an employee taking FMLA leave could continue working a second job. It said the FMLA itself does not prohibit outside work, but an employee remains subject to the employer’s…
Ventilation requirements for aircraft spray-painting hangars
A Navy engineering office asked how OSHA's spray-finishing ventilation rules applied to aircraft hangars. OSHA said the described corrosion-control hangars were spray areas that had to meet NFPA 33…
Asbestos training for on-site air-sampling consultants
A consultant asked which asbestos training an on-site abatement monitor needs. OSHA said a consultant whose only management service is airborne asbestos sampling needs the general-industry asbestos…
Fall protection atop residential concrete formwork
Regional staff asked about fall protection and scaffold requirements for workers atop concrete wall formwork in residential construction. OSHA said its then-current residential construction…
Unlocking containers stacked above deck
A maritime employer asked whether workers could go atop containers stacked more than four high when a longer lashing pole would be harder to control. OSHA said the exception could apply if the…
Injury-log recording after a positive drug test
An employer asked whether a positive post-incident drug test affected recording an employee's injury. OSHA said fault and the drug-screen result did not decide recordability under the former OSHA…
Recording injuries during travel and temporary assignments
An employer asked whether injuries during a temporary assignment in Germany and at a Texas worksite belonged on U.S. injury logs. OSHA said injuries outside its jurisdiction did not need to be…
Earthmoving equipment near loaded blast holes
A mining technician asked whether a payloader could stem loaded boreholes and whether a tractor could recover stuck equipment within a blast perimeter. OSHA said the rule permits machines used to…
Invalid construction coke oven emissions standard
A lawyer asked about the construction coke oven emissions provision at 29 CFR 1926.1129. OSHA said the provision was invalid, had remained in the code by mistake, and would be removed and not…
Improving unemployment benefit overpayment detection
Following an Inspector General audit, ETA urged state unemployment agencies to improve employer wage crossmatches used to detect benefit overpayments. It asked states to consider outreach to…
Asbestos-containing stucco and surfacing material
A Navy industrial hygienist asked whether stucco and similar materials count as asbestos surfacing material and what protection removal workers need. OSHA said tightly bound asbestos in stucco does…
Changing the FMLA 12-month leave year
WHD considered an employer’s change from a calendar-year FMLA leave period to a rolling 12-month period. It said employees retain whichever method is more beneficial during the 60-day transition…
Warning-garment colors for construction flaggers
A construction company requested a variance to let flaggers wear high-visibility colors allowed by newer traffic-control guidance. OSHA said a variance was unnecessary if the company fully met the…
Power-line worker footwear and aerial-lift fall protection
A senator forwarded questions about safety footwear and fall protection for electric utility workers. OSHA said foot protection depends on the employer's hazard assessment, but its original answer…
Training for non-electric personnel entering switchyards
An insurer asked whether loss-control representatives touring switchyards count as qualified workers and what training they need. OSHA said they were not automatically qualified; an employer may…
Medical-record retention versus injury-log retention
An employer asked whether injury reports and medical documents had to be kept as employee medical records. OSHA said a supervisor-completed injury form was not a medical record under the cited rule,…
Postal Service computer-generated injury log
The Postal Service asked whether its computer-generated injury log could substitute for the former OSHA 200 form. OSHA said the format was an acceptable equivalent because it supplied the needed…
Generic chemical descriptions on fuel safety data sheets
A requester asked whether a fuel supplier could use a generic material safety data sheet instead of listing each batch's exact ingredient percentages. OSHA said the hazard communication rule permits…
Fall protection and ladder dimensions on ski lift towers
A ski-area association asked how fixed-ladder cage, rung-width, and toe-clearance rules apply to ski lift towers where cages or large rungs could endanger riders. OSHA described a fall-protection…
Laboratory standard coverage and chemical safety sheets
A chemical company asked whether its laboratories followed the laboratory standard or hazard communication rule, and whether a brief contact sheet could replace a material safety data sheet. OSHA…
Working clearance around electrical equipment
A national laboratory asked about working space around electrical equipment rated 600 volts or less. OSHA said the required space includes at least 30 inches of width in front of equipment and must…
Scaffold attachable ladder extension above platform
A scaffold company asked whether a manufacturer-attached scaffold ladder must extend above the platform as a portable ladder must. OSHA said the scaffold standard has no such extension requirement…
Summer youth JTPA skills and financial reporting instructions
ETA told states how to report basic skills gained or maintained by summer youth in JTPA programs and narrowed its definition of academic enrichment. It also revised the JTPA Summary Program Report…
Public licensing board coverage under the FMLA
WHD considered whether a state-created occupational licensing board with 36 employees was covered by the FMLA. It said the board was a public agency and therefore covered regardless of its own…
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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.