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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Chlorine leak response training at water treatment plants
A consultant asked what training water-treatment staff need when changing leaking chlorine cylinders. OSHA said the potential for emergency release triggered HAZWOPER, workers in the area needed…
Fax-on-demand safety data sheets for chemical distributors
A chemical manufacturer asked whether a fax-on-demand system could replace sending material safety data sheets. OSHA said sheets must accompany first shipments to direct customers and updates with…
Hazard labels for pressure-treated lumber
A lumber company sought OSHA approval of proposed labels and consumer sheets for chromated copper arsenate treated wood. OSHA said it does not preapprove labels; manufacturers must evaluate hazards…
Detector tube testing of commercial diving compressor air
A diving association asked if detector tube kits could satisfy periodic carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and oil-mist testing of compressor output. OSHA said they could if manufacturer limits and…
Posting the former OSHA 200 annual summary at mobile worksites
A contractor asked how to post the former OSHA 200 annual summary for workers at nonfixed construction sites. OSHA said employees who did not report to a fixed site or dispatch office had to be…
Concurrent leave and FMLA designation questions
WHD answered questions about running injury or maternity leave alongside FMLA leave, benefits, designation timing, and leave shared by spouses. Its PDF says the letter is under review and may be…
Portable toilet lighting and ventilation in temporary labor camps
OSHA told a regional administrator that toilet-room lighting provisions were intended for permanent installations, while ventilation concerns with portable toilets required an actual employee hazard…
HAZWOPER coverage for news crews at emergency scenes
A media employer asked if news crews covering hazardous incidents needed first-responder training or counted as skilled support personnel. OSHA said they were generally not engaged in emergency…
Eleven FMLA questions from an airline
WHD answered eleven questions about intermittent leave, alternate positions, workers' compensation, health premiums, spouses' shared leave, and benefit accrual. It said only leave actually taken…
Fall hazard basis for a bridge construction PPE citation
Reviewing a proposed citation for bridge construction over a river, OSHA said 29 CFR 1926.95(a) could address an impact hazard from falling onto a shallow riverbed. Drowning hazards were addressed…
Fermilab 403(b) annuity program and employer involvement
Fermilab asked whether its voluntary 403(b) annuity program avoided ERISA pension-plan status. EBSA said its former employer contributions and judgment over disability or hardship withdrawals went…
Smokeless powder repackaging and historical PSM coverage
A company asked whether transferring unchanged smokeless powder from bulk to smaller resale containers triggered process safety management under the explosives rule. OSHA said the described work was…
Wire rope and metal stud guardrails at construction sites
A construction safety professional asked whether wire rope or metal drywall studs could be used for guardrails. OSHA said the materials were not prohibited if the installed guardrails met strength,…
Wire rope and metal studs for construction guardrails
A construction safety consultant asked whether wire rope and metal drywall studs could be used for guardrails around floor and wall openings. OSHA said neither material was prohibited, but a…
Historical safety-can rules for diesel fuel and kerosene
A safety firm asked whether diesel and kerosene at construction sites needed safety cans. OSHA said common diesel grades met the then-used flammable-liquid definition and required safety cans, while…
Revenue Quality Control measures and unemployment tax reporting
ETA explained the measures states would use to assess unemployment tax operations, including employer status determinations, overdue reports, collections and field audits. Its attachments described…
Unemployment insurance requirements for worker profiling and reemployment services
ETA told states how to identify unemployment claimants likely to exhaust benefits and refer them to available reemployment services. It explained when participation was required, how states should…
Machine-specific lockout and tagout procedures
An employer asked whether thousands of energy sources required separate written lockout procedures. OSHA explained the general documentation duty and listed exceptions, including cord-and-plug work,…
Presence-sensing devices on power presses
A correspondent asked whether presence-sensing devices could guard power presses. OSHA said the press standard allowed properly protective devices, but OSHA did not approve products and at that time…
Cadmium medical removal and daily action-level exposure
A company proposed assigning medically removed cadmium workers to an area where most samples were below the action level. OSHA said the standard required their exposure to stay below the action…
Emergency eyewash for retail auto-parts battery handling
A consultant asked if auto-parts stores handling vehicle batteries needed eyewash stations. OSHA said no standard specifically required eyewash for that retail setting, but identified general PPE,…
FMLA coverage of public-hospital medical residents
WHD considered medical residents working under successive one-year hospital contracts. On the limited facts, it concluded the residents were employees of a covered public hospital and could receive…
Atmospheric tanks and batch-process PSM coverage
A chemical company asked whether an atmospheric storage tank and a batch blending unit with temporary hose connections counted as one exempt process. OSHA said the facts were insufficient for a…
Wire rope clips used with wedge sockets
A regional administrator asked whether a piggy-back wire rope clip could secure a wedge socket connection. OSHA said the clip could be used if installed according to the manufacturer's instructions,…
Confined space rules for utility manholes and vaults
A contractor asked which standards applied when entering electric utility and telecommunications manholes. OSHA said 1910.146 applied to general-industry work outside electric generation,…
Who may inspect lockout and tagout procedures
A company asked who may conduct periodic inspections of energy-control procedures. OSHA said a qualified authorized employee other than the worker using the procedure must inspect it and assess…
Chemical inventory list under hazard communication rules
A contractor asked what to include in its hazard communication chemical list. OSHA said the employer must inventory hazardous workplace chemicals using the identity on the safety data sheet and…
Separate charges for domestic relations order processing
A retirement plan asked whether it could charge the participant’s account for determining and administering a qualified domestic relations order. EBSA said separate charges to affected participants…
PSM coverage for explosives disposal and landfill gas recovery
A waste company asked whether explosives disposal and landfill-gas power generation were exempt from process safety management. OSHA said it needed details about the explosives and other site…
Bloodborne pathogen coverage for electric utility first-aid staff
An electric utility asked which employees were covered by the bloodborne pathogens standard. OSHA said designated or de facto expected first-aid providers with reasonably anticipated blood contact…
Bloodborne pathogen exposure in electrical contracting
An electrical contractors association asked OSHA to review a safety publication. OSHA explained that designated first-aid workers with reasonably anticipated blood contact are covered, while…
Former injury log treatment of surgery and furlough days
A federal office asked how to count a worker's surgery and furlough days on the former OSHA 200 Log. OSHA said the surgery day was a day away because no work was performed, while furlough days…
Annual HAZWOPER refresher training after a lapse
A consultant asked whether hazardous-waste workers could take refresher training every three years. OSHA said the rule required eight hours annually while they performed remedial operations; an…
Tagout attachment cords under lockout rules
A correspondent asked if cotton-rayon or nylon cords could attach tagout devices. OSHA said employers must show equivalence to a one-piece, all-environment nylon cable tie; the supplied cords and…
Wire rope clips and wedge sockets under ANSI and OSHA rules
A contractor asked for a waiver from an ANSI rule on clips used with wedge sockets. OSHA said the ANSI provision had not become an OSHA standard, so no variance was needed, and described clip…
OSHA citation policy for voluntary employee rescues
OSHA instructed field offices not to cite an employer solely for a worker's voluntary heroic rescue if the employer had met its applicable responsibilities. The attached policy distinguished…
Workers' compensation absences and FMLA leave
WHD answered a concern that workers' compensation leave could use up an employee's FMLA entitlement before another family or medical event. It said an on-the-job injury can be a serious health…
Disaster unemployment benefit amounts for July–September 1994
ETA directed state unemployment agencies to use the attached average weekly benefit amounts when calculating disaster unemployment assistance for disasters occurring July through September 1994. It…
Original FMLA effective date under railway CBAs
WHD explained the FMLA's original effective date for employees under a collective bargaining agreement subject to the Railway Labor Act. It said coverage began when the agreement was first reopened…
FECA benefits and a light-duty offer during FMLA leave
WHD considered a Postal Service employee receiving federal workers' compensation benefits while on FMLA leave. It said declining suitable light-duty work could end FECA benefits under that program,…
Screen Actors Guild cooperation fund outside ERISA
A screen performers union and producer association asked whether their industry cooperation trust was an ERISA welfare plan. EBSA said its described work on labor-management relations and industry…
Interest-free plan loan to pay a QDRO beneficiary
A plan trustee asked whether he could lend cash to a retirement plan to pay an alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order. EBSA said paying that beneficiary under the order is a…
Line-clearance arborists under electric power safety rules
An arborist association asked how 29 CFR 1910.269 applied to line-clearance tree work. OSHA addressed training certification, proficiency, fall protection equipment, and branch removal near…
Process safety management program-quality inspections
A consultant asked whether a process safety management Program Quality Verification inspection was routine and limited to an implementation plan. OSHA said PQV inspections were comprehensive,…
Flammable-solvent parts cleaner as a covered PSM process
A manufacturer asked whether a solvent parts cleaning station and its connected storage and waste tanks were covered by process safety management. OSHA said the interconnected equipment formed one…
Bloodborne pathogens standard and health care workers
A physician questioned the need for OSHA's bloodborne pathogens standard and asked about its requirements. OSHA described the exposure risks to health care workers, said employers were responsible…
Consumer products in group homes under hazard communication
A group-home operator asked if employees needed material safety data sheets and training for ordinary household products. OSHA said the consumer-product exception applied when workplace use was like…
New York written authorization for plan payroll deductions
A plan service provider asked whether New York could require written authorization before workers used telephone elections for salary deferrals to an ERISA plan. EBSA said the state law was…
Pilots union disability insurance programs under ERISA
A pilots union asked whether its loss-of-license and extended disability insurance programs fell outside ERISA as voluntary insurance. EBSA said the union’s branding endorsed the programs, and its…
Pilots union legal insurance program under ERISA
A pilots union asked whether its prepaid legal insurance was outside ERISA as voluntary coverage. EBSA said union-branded materials endorsed the program, and the union’s role in its design exceeded…
Respirator selection for isocyanate paint spraying
A regional OSHA memorandum clarified that employees exposed to isocyanates while spraying paint needed positive-pressure air-line respirators with full facepieces. It also described when an improper…
Steel erection fall protection and OSHA rulemaking
A steel erection company asked about OSHA policies concerning fall protection, citations and the industry's concerns with the standard. OSHA declined to discuss the company's citations outside the…
Temporary agency service and FMLA eligibility
WHD considered a worker supplied by a temporary agency and later hired directly by the client company. It said the agency and client were joint employers for FMLA coverage and eligibility, so the…
Lockout of valves with chains or covers
A chemical company asked whether chains, locks, or valve covers could satisfy OSHA’s lockout requirements, including for newly installed valves. OSHA said these could qualify when they effectively…
Process safety coverage of turpentine in wood digestion
A wood-products company asked whether turpentine stored in atmospheric tanks or used as lime-kiln fuel was exempt from OSHA’s process safety management rule. OSHA said storage alone did not…
Supervisor training for hazardous waste operations
The Army Corps asked which personnel needed the additional supervisor training under OSHA’s hazardous waste operations rule. OSHA said on-site managers and supervisors responsible for health and…
Alarms on portable breathing-air compressors
An OSHA regional administrator asked whether portable breathing-air compressors required carbon monoxide or high-temperature alarms. OSHA distinguished a prior letter about stationary compressors…
Pilots union accidental death insurance under ERISA
A pilots union asked whether its accidental death and dismemberment coverage was outside ERISA as voluntary insurance. EBSA said the union endorsed it in branded materials, helped shape the plan,…
Pilots union accident and sickness insurance under ERISA
A pilots union asked whether its accident and sickness coverage was outside ERISA as voluntary insurance. EBSA said union-branded materials endorsed it, the union contributed to the insurer's claims…
Pilots union term life insurance under ERISA
A pilots union asked whether its group term life coverage was outside ERISA as voluntary insurance. EBSA said branded materials endorsed it, the union paid for some coverage, and it helped shape…
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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.