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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Public-sector compensatory time and FMLA leave
WHD considered public employees' compensatory time earned instead of FLSA overtime pay. It said this time was not one of the accrued paid-leave forms that FMLA allowed to be substituted for unpaid…
Interim steel erection fall protection policy remains in place
A steel industry group urged OSHA to change its interim fall protection enforcement policy for steel erection. OSHA said it was evaluating the group's views on citations for falls between 10 and 25…
1994 Summer Challenge II youth work and learning guidance
ETA gave states and local job-training areas detailed instructions for the 1994 Summer Challenge II youth program. It emphasized meaningful work, educational skills, links with schools and private…
OSHA and Coast Guard jurisdiction on foreign vessels
A regional office asked whether expanded Coast Guard authority over foreign vessels displaced OSHA enforcement against marine cargo handlers. OSHA said the Coast Guard's vessel authority did not bar…
OSHA and Coast Guard authority over foreign-flag vessels
An OSHA regional office asked whether expanded Coast Guard inspection authority displaced OSHA enforcement on foreign-flag vessels. OSHA said the Coast Guard change concerned vessel conditions and…
Thirty-day retest window for hearing-loss records
An audiology provider asked whether a later hearing test could reverse a former OSHA Form 200 hearing-loss entry. OSHA said a retest had to occur within 30 calendar days to replace the initial…
Historical hearing-loss recording across employers
A shipping association asked how hearing loss had to be recorded on the former OSHA Form 200. OSHA described its then-used 25-decibel threshold, the audiogram date for an illness entry, and which…
Cumulative trauma and establishment records on Form 200
A state labor official asked when cumulative trauma disorders became recordable, when a recurrence was a new case, and how many logs a ski resort needed. OSHA explained its then-current onset and…
Methanol and propane used solely as furnace fuel
A manufacturer asked whether its heat-treating furnaces fell under OSHA’s process safety management rule because they used methanol and propane. OSHA said the described process was outside the rule…
Specimen containers under the bloodborne pathogen standard
A lawyer asked whether containers approved under transportation rules automatically met OSHA’s bloodborne-pathogen requirements and whether other containers could qualify. OSHA said its rule judged…
Lutheran Social Services East Region plans as church plans
A Pennsylvania Lutheran social ministry asked whether its employee benefits were church plans. EBSA said synod control of the ministry and its associated benefits committee met the definition on the…
Morningside Ministries benefit plans as church plans
A retirement housing ministry founded by Episcopal, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches asked whether its employee benefits were church plans. EBSA said the churches jointly controlled the ministry…
Review of Washington excavation inspection procedures
OSHA reviewed Washington’s directive for inspecting excavation work. It said the state procedures were essentially the same as OSHA’s federal inspection instructions and agreed they were at least as…
Gloves for routine blood draws under OSHA rules
A hospital phlebotomist asked whether experienced staff could decide not to wear gloves during routine blood draws. OSHA said its federal bloodborne-pathogens rule required gloves because blood…
First-aid medical personnel and emergency eyewash guidance
A correspondent asked OSHA to define available medical personnel and quick-drenching equipment under its first-aid standard. OSHA said qualified medical advice must be readily available but it did…
Toeboards over an inaccessible water tank
A company asked whether a walkway over a mostly full water tank needed toeboards when workers were barred from entering the tank. OSHA said toeboards protect workers below from falling tools and…
Safety standards for commercial battery shops
A correspondent asked which OSHA standards applied to battery charging and related safety equipment. OSHA said the industrial-truck battery rule did not govern commercial shops changing vehicle…
Hazard communication duties in a physician's office
A member of Congress relayed a physician's concern about the burden of OSHA's hazard communication rule. OSHA explained that the rule covers hazardous chemicals with potential workplace exposure,…
Leakproof secondary containers for specimens
A specimen-bag manufacturer asked whether the secondary container could leak if the primary specimen container failed. OSHA answered that the secondary container must be closable, prevent leakage…
Employer-required substitution of paid FMLA leave
WHD answered union members who wanted paid vacation or sick leave substitution during FMLA leave to be optional. It said the FMLA allowed an employer to require substitution of applicable accrued…
Excavation safeguards during pool wall construction
OSHA addressed pool excavations whose walls served as forms for gunite or shotcrete. It said the usual protective system could make that work infeasible, and listed alternative steps to reduce…
Material stacking standards at construction sites
A correspondent asked OSHA for safe ways to stack heavy elevator doors at a construction site. OSHA pointed to its general construction and industry material-storage standards and said they did not…
Maternity leave and the FMLA 12-week period
WHD answered four questions about childbirth and maternity leave. It said qualifying disability leave for childbirth could count against the same 12-week FMLA entitlement used for newborn care, and…
Parking-lot injuries and commuting in OSHA logs
An employer asked about recording employee injuries in company parking areas. OSHA said parking-lot injuries generally were not presumed work related unless the worker was there for work or as a…
Recording occupational illnesses on the OSHA 200 Log
An employer asked how to record occupational illnesses on the OSHA 200 Log. OSHA explained when a condition was work related, which date to enter, and how to handle an illness discovered after…
Lancaster Mennonite Hospitals employee plans as church plans
A requester asked whether specified Lancaster Mennonite Hospitals employee benefit plans were church plans. EBSA found the defined plans were church plans on the represented facts and excluded from…
Guarding protruding reinforcing steel
A construction employer asked whether large reinforcing bars protruding from a concrete floor had to be guarded. OSHA said any diameter or length of protruding bar must be guarded where a worker…
Attendance, safety, and production bonuses after FMLA leave
A requester asked whether attendance, safety, and production bonuses could be reduced or denied because an employee used FMLA leave. WHD’s 1994 letter said some bonuses had to remain available after…
Acid concentrations under process safety rules
A company asked whether 35 percent hydrochloric acid was covered by OSHA's process safety management rule and how to assess other acids. OSHA said aqueous hydrochloric acid was not covered, then…
Multi-employer health plans during FMLA leave
WHD considered how employers in a multi-employer health plan should maintain coverage during FMLA leave. It said the employer must arrange adequate contributions so coverage continues as though the…
Inspection and removal criteria for wire rope slings
A company asked how to apply OSHA's removal criteria for wire rope slings. OSHA explained when broken wires or wear require immediate removal, how to compare diameter measurements, and the duty to…
Messiah Home benefit arrangements as church plans
A Brethren in Christ retirement community asked whether its employee benefit plans were church plans. EBSA said church control of the home and its associated plan committee met the definition;…
St. Peter’s Hospital Mercy benefit plans as church plans
A Mercy hospital asked whether its employee benefit arrangements and those of related institutions were church plans. EBSA said the order’s control of the institutions and benefits committee met the…
Nazareth Hospital employee plans as church plans
A Catholic hospital in Philadelphia asked whether its employee benefit plans were church plans. EBSA said the religious order’s control of the hospital and associated plan committee met the…
United Service Association health trust ERISA and insurance status
Connecticut regulators asked whether a small-employer association’s restructured health trust was an ERISA welfare plan and fully insured. EBSA could not find that the association was a bona fide…
Federal OSHA jurisdiction over volunteer firefighters
A volunteer firefighter asked why federal OSHA had not intervened on behalf of his department. OSHA said the Occupational Safety and Health Act excluded states and their political subdivisions from…
Sacred Heart Manor benefit arrangements as church plans
A requester asked whether specified employee benefit plans of a Carmelite nursing home were church plans. EBSA found the defined plans were church plans on the represented facts and excluded from…
Mercy hospitals’ employee plans as church plans
A requester acting for Mercy hospitals asked whether their employee benefit arrangements were church plans. EBSA concluded that the Church was deemed the employer under ERISA section 3(33)(C)(iii)…
Lockout of agitators during confined-space cleaning
A dairy association asked whether cleaning vats and tanks with unguarded agitators required lockout or tagout. OSHA said the cleaning was servicing, the spaces had to be isolated, and a…
Rebar caps used to prevent impalement
An OSHA regional office asked about guidance on plastic caps for protruding rebar. OSHA distinguished small pipe or conduit caps, which it said do not prevent impalement, from larger mushroom caps…
Guarding the swing radius of pipe-laying excavators
A contractors' association asked whether crane swing-radius guarding rules applied to excavators placing pipe. OSHA said no construction standard specifically addressed that operation, but the…
When hospitalization triggers OSHA incident reporting
An employer asked when multiple employee hospitalizations had to be reported under then-current OSHA rules. OSHA said an employee counted as hospitalized when admitted on an inpatient basis;…
Franciscan Health System employee plans as church plans
A Franciscan order asked whether benefit plans at its health system and eleven facilities were church plans. EBSA said church control of the institutions and associated plan committees met the…
Addison Community Hospital pension as governmental plan
A Michigan community hospital asked whether its pension plan was governmental after its public hospital authority filed for bankruptcy. EBSA said the authority and hospital were government…
Material safety data sheets in a dental compendium
A dental publisher asked whether manufacturers could meet OSHA's material safety data sheet duties by supplying a compendium to dentists. OSHA said a book could work if employers actually received…
State self-employment assistance programs under the NAFTA Implementation Act
ETA explained how states could create optional self-employment assistance programs under the NAFTA Implementation Act. It described who could receive an allowance in place of regular unemployment…
Testing ground-fault circuit interrupters at construction sites
OSHA instructed regional offices on testing construction-site ground-fault circuit interrupters. It said external testers could give inaccurate results and directed inspectors to use the built-in…
Recording tuberculosis cases on the OSHA 200 Log
OSHA instructed regional recordkeeping staff when tuberculosis infections and disease were presumed work related in certain workplaces and when that presumption could be rebutted. The memo also said…
District of Columbia Bar deferred compensation as governmental plan
The D.C. Bar asked whether its deferred compensation plan qualified for ERISA’s governmental-plan exclusion. EBSA said the integrated bar was an instrumentality of the District because it was…
Recording hearing loss after a prior threshold shift
An employer asked when an additional hearing-loss case should be entered on the OSHA 200 Log. OSHA said a recordable 25 dB shift established a new reference audiogram, and another entry was due only…
Restricted work and aggravated conditions on injury logs
An employer asked how to classify several restricted-work and aggravated-condition scenarios on its OSHA log. OSHA said duties expected at any point in the year counted as normal duties, and a work…
Logging restricted work when medical opinions differ
A lawyer asked how to log a case when an employee and the employer's physician disagreed about the worker's ability to perform restricted duties. OSHA said days could be counted as restricted work…
Classifying injuries and illnesses on OSHA recordkeeping forms
A refinery safety manager asked detailed questions about classifying illnesses, medical treatment, prescriptions, and restricted work on OSHA's then-current log. OSHA gave examples for hearing loss,…
Washing facilities at permanent construction workplaces
An OSHA regional office asked how construction washing-facility requirements applied. OSHA said paragraphs 1926.51(f)(2) through (f)(4) applied only to permanent workplaces, because a limiting scope…
Synthetic fiber sling strength in construction
An engineer asked how OSHA's construction rigging rules applied to Spectra fiber slings, which the standards did not specifically address. OSHA said slings used according to the maker's instructions…
First-aid response times and nearby medical help
A safety engineer asked what 'in near proximity' meant for medical personnel under OSHA's first-aid rule. OSHA said a three-to-four-minute response was required where severe injury could be…
First-aid response time under the near-proximity rule
A safety engineer asked what 'in near proximity' meant for first-aid availability. OSHA said expected life-threatening or permanently disabling injuries called for first aid within 3 to 4 minutes,…
Lockout rules for maintenance aboard fishing vessels
A lawyer asked whether OSHA's general-industry lockout rule covered maintenance on commercial fishing vessels. OSHA said that rule excluded maritime employment and that its shipyard rules covered…
Target-organ hazard warnings on chemical labels
A chemical-industry association asked OSHA to review draft ANSI labeling language. OSHA said its hazard communication rule required labels to convey specific hazards, including target-organ effects,…
Insulating barriers near overhead power lines
An insurer asked which insulating barriers could protect workers when cranes operated near energized lines. OSHA said rubber line covers may help with light brush contact but were inadequate where…
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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.