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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Safety jurisdiction at New York's Javits Center
A worker asked federal OSHA about conditions at New York's Javits Center. OSHA described a joint inspection and said New York's Public Employee Safety and Health office then had jurisdiction over…
Urine sample quality for cadmium monitoring
A laboratory asked about low creatinine readings in urine samples for cadmium surveillance. OSHA advised screening samples for dilution and acidity, recollecting unsuitable samples and avoiding…
Continuation of unemployment insurance workload validation
ETA instructed state unemployment agencies to continue validating reported workloads while it developed a broader data validation system. For fiscal year 1996, states were to validate normally…
Fit testing and fit factors for N95 respirators
Safety consultants asked how to fit test newly certified N95 respirators. OSHA said quantitative or qualitative testing was acceptable under its then-current rule and described a minimum…
Asbestos competent-person course for Class II roofing
A roofing association questioned whether Class II asbestos supervisors always needed a five-day course. OSHA said the stated exception applied when intact roofing material was removed; other roofing…
Construction access and completed-building ramp rules
A correspondent asked for OSHA rules on concrete ramps at building entrances. OSHA pointed to construction access rules requiring stairs or ladders at certain elevation changes when no ramp or other…
Linseed-oil spontaneous-combustion warnings
A correspondent asked whether products containing linseed oil needed spontaneous-combustion warnings. OSHA said that hazard should appear on labels and in material safety data sheets, along with…
Bloodborne-pathogen duties in dry-cleaning shops
A dry-cleaning trade group asked when the bloodborne pathogens rule covered shops receiving clothing. OSHA said shops with contracts likely to bring contaminated garments were fully covered, while…
New timeliness and quality measures for UI benefits operations
ETA directed state unemployment agencies to begin reporting new timeliness and quality measures under UI Performs in 1996. The letter set implementation dates, explained changes to first-payment and…
Combining respirator protection factors during lead blasting
A consultant asked whether a tight-fitting respirator worn with an abrasive-blasting hood could produce a higher combined protection factor under the lead rule. OSHA said the combination lacked…
Rung width on telecommunications tower ladders
A telecommunications company asked which ladder rule governed fixed ladders on its towers. OSHA said the telecommunications provision required a minimum 12-inch clear rung width and applied to the…
Minimum approach distance at 69-kV switches
An electrical consultant asked how workers could service a de-energized portion of a switch while its upper section stayed energized. OSHA said the employer had to keep workers and conductive…
Attendance bonuses and FMLA leave
WHD revisited an attendance incentive plan to address the effect of FMLA leave. It said an otherwise eligible employee with perfect attendance cannot lose that bonus merely for taking FMLA leave. It…
Revising baseline hearing tests one ear at a time
An audiologist asked whether an employer could revise baseline hearing tests separately for each ear and whether a fixed improvement threshold applied. OSHA said separate baselines were acceptable…
Corrections to 1994 air-contaminant exposure tables
OSHA told regional staff about errors in the 1994 air-contaminant exposure tables, including mistaken entries, spellings and exposure limits. It asked that area offices be informed while formal…
Connecticut health insurance cancellation notice and ERISA
Two requesters asked which parts of Connecticut's group health insurance cancellation law ERISA preempted. EBSA said the employer notice, penalty, and liability provisions could not be applied to…
Minimum dive team for two commercial scuba divers
A marine services company asked how many people are needed when two commercial scuba divers work underwater. OSHA said the minimum team had four members: two divers, a standby diver, and a…
Onsite change rooms and showers for hazardous work
An attorney asked whether workers in two hazardous-work scenarios could use a centralized change room instead of facilities at each site. OSHA said HAZWOPER's shower and change-room provision…
Minimum scuba dive team with two divers underwater
A marine service asked how many team members commercial scuba work needed with two divers underwater. OSHA said the stated arrangement needed at least four people: a person in charge, a standby…
Building-owner asbestos records and occupant notices
A building owner asked what asbestos information it had to keep and whom it had to notify. OSHA said records needed the material's type, location and quantity, updated when work changed those facts,…
Minnesota group life continuation law and ERISA
A requester asked whether Minnesota's group life insurance continuation law could apply to ERISA plans. EBSA said provisions requiring employers to give notice, collect premiums, and pay benefits…
Hazard communication duties for oil and gas producers
An industry consultant asked whether oil and gas producers counted as chemical manufacturers under OSHA's hazard communication rule. OSHA said they did and had to evaluate hazards and prepare…
Saliva during dental procedures as infectious material
A dentist challenged OSHA's treatment of saliva in dental procedures under the bloodborne pathogens standard. OSHA said blood contamination during dental work was predictable and employee protection…
Teachers and the FMLA 1,250-hour eligibility test
WHD addressed how schools should measure teachers' 1,250 hours of service for FMLA eligibility. Full-time teachers without recorded hours are presumed to meet the test unless the employer clearly…
Hazard communication for imported workplace chemicals
An overseas correspondent asked which U.S. rules applied to chemical sale, import, handling and transport. OSHA said its role covered workplace use and that chemical manufacturers and importers had…
Recording a heat-related illness on the OSHA 200 log
An employer asked whether a worker's illness during hot work had to be logged. OSHA said workplace exposure need only contribute to the condition and the physician had not ruled out a work…
Restricted work and work from home on old OSHA logs
A healthcare company asked how three injury scenarios should appear on OSHA's former records. OSHA counted work at home after an injury as days away from the work establishment, partial work onsite…
Former OSHA injury-log coverage of retail bakeries
A bakery company asked whether its retail stores had to maintain OSHA injury logs. OSHA said retail bakery stores were covered under the then-current industry list and that the small-employer…
Former injury-log exemption for sheltered workshops
A sheltered workshop asked whether it had to keep OSHA injury logs. OSHA said workshops whose primary function was job training and rehabilitation fell under an exempt industry category in the…
Missing 401(k) participants and investment directions
A 401(k) plan asked whether trustees could move missing participants’ accounts away from their last investment choices without losing the plan’s ERISA section 404(c) status. EBSA said the plan could…
Puerto Rico payroll deductions for ERISA plan loan repayments
A company asked whether Puerto Rico could bar employee-authorized payroll deductions used to repay loans from its ERISA retirement plan. EBSA said ERISA preempted the cited law to the extent it…
Minimum disaster unemployment assistance by state, January–March 1996
ETA instructed state unemployment agencies to use its attached state table when calculating minimum Disaster Unemployment Assistance for major disasters declared from January through March 1996. The…
Process safety coverage of bulk liquid terminals
A bulk liquid terminal asked how the process safety standard applied to tanks, blending, vapor recovery, wastewater and pipelines. OSHA said the atmospheric-tank exception covered storage and…
Motor-control clearances and live electrical work
A manufacturer asked whether safe-work procedures could replace required clearances at a motor control center. OSHA said electrical installation requirements still applied and described the variance…
Reallotment of 1995 JTPA Title III formula funds
ETA sent states a Federal Register notice identifying excess unspent JTPA Title III funds from program year 1994. The notice recaptures equivalent amounts from 1995 allotments and redistributes them…
Respirator classes and reuse for TB exposure
A hospital asked what respiratory protection OSHA accepted for workers exposed to tuberculosis. OSHA said then-new Type 95, 99 and 100 particulate respirators were acceptable, with Type 95 as the…
House excavation and residential fall-protection memos
A safety manager asked how OSHA's 1995 house-foundation excavation and fall-protection memos applied. OSHA described their limited scope and said other construction protections, including…
Medical certification of a serious health condition
WHD responded to a flight attendant's concern about medical certification for FMLA leave. It said an employer that doubted a properly completed, timely certification should seek a second opinion…
Process safety management guidance for chemical employers
An overseas labor official asked OSHA how its process safety management rules worked. OSHA described the rule's purpose, process hazard analysis and employer duties, and pointed to its compliance…
Core elements for Maine 200-style OSHA programs
OSHA told regional staff what proposals for Maine 200-style programs had to contain. The memo called for data-driven targeting, employer partnerships, hazard-abatement measures, evaluation and…
UCFE benefits for federal employees excepted from furlough
ETA instructed state unemployment agencies how to pay temporary unemployment compensation to federal employees who had to keep working without pay during a funding lapse. The letter explained…
Guarding internal-work abrasive grinding wheels
A manufacturer asked whether an abrasive wheel needed a guard while performing internal work inside the workpiece. OSHA said the cited machine-guarding rules expressly excepted that situation…
Asbestos signs, training and building-owner duties
A law firm asked how OSHA's asbestos rules applied to warning signs, Class III training and building-owner surveys. OSHA said signs could use practical alternatives where labels on walls or floors…
Fall protection near residential foundation excavations
A home-builders group asked about fall protection around residential basement excavations deeper than six feet. OSHA said the cited provision required protection only when the excavation was not…
New hearing-loss baseline after recording a loss
A company physician asked when a hearing-loss audiogram became the new reference point for OSHA's former Form 200. OSHA said a recordable loss became the baseline for future losses, and the first…
Assessing construction craft skills
A construction education group asked whether OSHA required tests of craft technical skill. OSHA said no formal test was required, but employers remained responsible for ensuring workers had the…
Flammable-liquid threshold in a mixed-material process
A lawyer asked whether a mixing process exceeded OSHA’s process safety threshold when flammable liquid was combined with enough inert solids to bring the mixture above 10,000 pounds. OSHA said the…
Process safety coverage for synthetic fuel handling systems
An engineer asked whether several synthetic fuel drum, tank, and transfer operations were covered by OSHA’s process safety rule. OSHA analyzed the connected equipment, flammable-liquid threshold,…
Confined-space reclassification and vehicle energy control
An employer asked how to reclassify certain confined spaces and whether vehicle service needed lockout controls. OSHA explained when a space could be reclassified and how welding affected the…
Latex glove allergy labeling and worker protection
An OSHA regional office asked whether medical latex gloves needed allergy warnings under the hazard communication standard. OSHA said the information then available did not support a citation…
Tax performance and Form ETA 581 questions and answers
ETA answered state unemployment agencies' questions about the revised Form ETA 581 and the Tax Performance System's revenue quality reviews. Its attached Q&A covers employer status, receivables,…
Work-related injury and restricted-work days
OSHA addressed whether an employee's symptoms at work were work related and how an employer should count two missed days after the injury was reported. It said work-relatedness was presumed on the…
Recording injuries involving telecommuting and restricted work
OSHA answered six questions about when an injured employee's days should be counted as days away, restricted work, or neither under the injury-log system then in force. It said working at home did…
High-temperature pipe cases for asbestos removal
A cleaning contractor asked whether pipe cases could replace standard glove bags for asbestos removal from pipes and ducts as hot as 700 degrees Fahrenheit. OSHA said the described equipment…
Process safety coverage of flammable-liquid storage and use
OSHA considered whether atmospheric tanks holding flammable liquid qualified for the process safety management storage exception when they fed a manufacturing reactor. It said the described process…
PSM exception for atmospheric flammable-liquid tanks
A manufacturers' association asked how far the process safety management exception for atmospheric flammable-liquid tanks extended. OSHA said it covered only storage and associated transfer under…
Use of OSHA penalty money for safety equipment
A union proposed using a plant's OSHA violation penalties to buy safety equipment and training at that plant. OSHA replied that the Occupational Safety and Health Act required those penalties to be…
Lutheran social ministry pension arrangements as church plans
A Lutheran social ministry asked whether its money purchase and thrift savings arrangements qualified as church plans. EBSA said the church’s control of the ministry and its plan committee, along…
Employee leasing health program as a MEWA
An employee leasing firm asked whether its health program was exempt from state regulation as one employer’s ERISA plan. EBSA could not establish that the firm and its clients were under common…
Protective grounding for underground electrical work
A utility worker asked whether protective grounds were needed at five locations around an underground circuit worksite. OSHA said the diagrams and facts supplied were insufficient to decide, and…
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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.