State and Federal Labor Guidance
Free state and federal labor-agency opinion letters, administrative policies, and interpretive notices, with plain-English summaries, current status, and the official source on every page.
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Alternative workweek: 'affected employees' can be a regional work unit, not necessarily the whole statewide job classification
An employer asked DLSE whether, for a proposed alternative workweek covering the job classification "collector," the "affected employees" who must be given the required notice and vote had to be all…
Clarification of approval requirements for equipment to classify underground construction operations as potentially gassy
An OSHA regional office asked how testing-laboratory approval rules apply to underground construction equipment. OSHA said the general-industry NRTL rule did not govern construction, described how…
The Standards do not exclude equipments by weight of the machine for rollover protective structure.
An equipment supplier asked whether a small excavator could avoid rollover protective structures because it weighed less than 700 kilograms. OSHA said its construction standards did not exclude the…
Issuing OSHA Form 72's for Defective Gear Found Aboard Vessels Unknown
An OSHA regional office proposed using Form 72 to report defective cargo gear aboard vessels. OSHA said existing cargo-gear registers and certification rules already provided notice, so requiring…
Information on Robotics, Presence Sensing Devices, Ergonomics, and Hand Speed Criteria Unknown
An OSHA office summarized material for agency recommendations on machine guarding, robotics, and ergonomics. It said a presence-sensing device could be considered under a de minimis enforcement…
The point of operation and rotating part hazards related to vertical food mixers in bakeries and restaurants are covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards. Unknown
An engineer asked OSHA what action it would take on hazards from vertical food mixers. OSHA said its machine-guarding rules covered mixer points of operation and rotating parts and that it had…
Enforcement of the Hazard Communication Standard as it relates to "vegetable oil mist"
A cotton-industry representative questioned label and material safety data sheet duties for vegetable oil mist under OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard. OSHA said a substance with a specific OSHA…
Automatic return attachments on radial saws
A saw manufacturer asked whether OSHA required automatic return attachments on radial saws. OSHA said its rule required the cutting head to return gently to the starting position when released, but…
Employees who design and engineer hazardous waste facilities and their coverage under 1910.120.
An engineering company asked whether its employees needed HAZWOPER training when they visited hazardous waste incinerators for design work or tests. OSHA said regular duties in permitted areas could…
The obligations and responsibilities of machine manufacturers under the lockout/tagout standard. Unknown
A machine builder asked whether OSHA’s lockout/tagout standard applied to manufacturers as well as machine owners. OSHA said new or substantially modified equipment needed energy-isolating devices…
Immigration Act amendment to unemployment eligibility rules Unknown
ETA explained that the Immigration Act of 1990 removed an obsolete Immigration and Nationality Act citation from the federal unemployment tax law's rule on work performed by noncitizens. It said…
Sporadic incentive/referral bonuses must be included in the regular rate of pay for overtime, vesting in the pay period the bonus objectively vests
An employer's counsel asked whether sporadic incentive bonus payments for work ancillary to employees' primary duties must be included in the "regular rate of pay" used to calculate overtime, under…
A rescue team is required during all phases of underground construction operations in a tunnel.
A construction safety superintendent asked whether tunnel rescue teams were still needed after the primary structural phase. OSHA said 29 CFR 1926.800(g)(5) required a rescue team throughout all…
Machine Guarding
An ironworker-machine manufacturer asked OSHA to confirm that users would comply if they kept or replaced the factory guards. OSHA said an employer met its machine-guarding rule when the machine was…
The excessive space required on job sites to comply with the posting of various posters mandated by Federal law.
A contractors’ association proposed shrinking OSHA’s workplace safety poster to fit alongside other required notices at construction sites. OSHA said the proposed 5¼-by-7¾-inch copy did not comply;…
Guidelines for First Aid Training Programs.
Ontario’s labour ministry asked OSHA for its first-aid training guidelines and further suggestions. OSHA said inspectors could use the guidelines to evaluate training, and trainers could tailor…
Protection from hazards of bloodborne pathogens in dentistry Unknown
A senator relayed a dentist's concern that OSHA had singled out dental offices for inspections and bloodborne-disease safeguards. OSHA said its inspection program covered health care settings…
St. Mary’s Hospital employee plans as church plans Unknown
A Catholic hospital asked whether several employee benefit plans were church plans. EBSA said the Franciscan order’s control of hospital and plan administration met the church-plan definition on the…
A reasonable per-mile car allowance (e.g. the IRS's 26 cents) is presumed to already cover the employee's auto-insurance cost
Following up on a phone conversation, DLSE clarified its position on whether an employer that reimburses an employee 26 cents per mile (the IRS-suggested rate at the time) for using the employee's…
Training requirements for post-emergency response operations
A contractors' group asked how OSHA would apply training rules to cleanup workers after a hazardous-materials emergency. OSHA said its enforcement instruction allowed a de minimis treatment for…
Fire brigade physical-capability guidance under 29 CFR 1910.156
A fire chief asked about compliance with OSHA's fire brigade rule. OSHA pointed to Appendix A's explanation that physical capability can be assessed through the required duties, performance tests,…
1990 budget law changes to unemployment compensation Unknown
ETA explained how the 1990 budget law changed federal and state unemployment programs. It described a new basis for distributing Reed Act funds, changes to when states could use those funds for…
Employer-required uniforms: who pays, and who pays for cleaning, when an employee opts into a different color or fabric
A hospital employer asked DLSE about uniform-cost and cleaning obligations under IWC Order 5-89 §9(A). DLSE explained that if a nurse or other health-care professional in an occupation that…
Maintenance employees at hazardous-waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities
An employer asked whether maintenance employees entering its permitted hazardous-waste treatment, storage, and disposal areas for repairs, housekeeping, and material transfers were covered by OSHA's…
Crystalline silica warning labels under the Hazard Communication Standard
A mineral-products supplier asked whether crystalline silica warnings depended on the total silica content or only the respirable portion of a bulk sample. OSHA said products with more than 0.1%…
Restored UCFE coverage for temporary census workers Unknown
ETA rescinded Change 1 to UIPL 43-88 and explained that temporary Census Bureau service was again covered by UCFE. It instructed states to revisit claims denied or miscalculated under the prior…
Coverage of laboratories under OSHA's Laboratory Standard
An OSHA regional office asked which kinds of laboratories fell under the Laboratory Standard. OSHA said coverage turns on laboratory use and scale and whether work is part of or related to…
Warning garments for flagmen at construction sites Unknown
A warning-vest maker asked whether its garment met OSHA requirements for construction flaggers and workers exposed to traffic. OSHA said the vest appeared to meet the intent of the cited…
National Employees and Operators health trust as a MEWA Unknown
Tennessee regulators asked whether an employee and operator association health trust was a MEWA. EBSA said its benefits reached employees of unrelated employers, so ERISA did not bar state…
Use of self-luminous and electroluminescent exit signs Unknown
An exit-sign manufacturer asked whether its self-luminous and electroluminescent products met OSHA's then-current illumination rules. OSHA said signs installed and maintained as described could…
Request for OSHA approval of a commercial scuba diver training program Unknown
A member of Congress asked OSHA to approve a commercial scuba diver training and certification program. OSHA said it does not approve or certify specific programs, although the submitted outline…
1991 military remuneration schedule for UCX claims Unknown
ETA issued a revised federal military pay schedule for unemployment claims by former service members after the January 1991 pay increase. State agencies were to use the attached monthly, weekly, and…
Construction industry cooperation trust outside ERISA Unknown
A requester asked whether a construction industry cooperation trust was an ERISA welfare plan and whether its activities complied with labor-management law. EBSA said the trust provided no benefit…
Inspection procedures for hazardous-waste emergency response Unknown
A training adviser asked whether OSHA would check compliance with its hazardous-waste emergency response standard at every inspection. OSHA said it was revising its enforcement guidelines and…
Material safety data sheet distribution by retail hardware stores
A congressional office asked how retail hardware stores should distribute chemical safety sheets to employer customers. OSHA said retailers selling hazardous chemicals for workplace use must keep…
Group lockout and tagout for hazardous energy control Unknown
An attorney asked who could place locks or tags on isolation devices during group maintenance. OSHA said someone other than a worker doing the service could place them under specified group…
Applicability of underground-construction standards to sewer tunnel rehabilitation
An OSHA regional office asked whether underground-construction rules applied to rehabilitation of a sewer tunnel built decades earlier. OSHA said the work created underground-construction conditions…
Using a powered industrial truck as a loading worktable
A bottling company asked whether workers could load cases onto a pallet held at waist height on forklift forks. OSHA said that, to protect workers from a driverless truck moving with raised forks,…
Physical examinations for interior structural firefighters
A fire chief asked how often interior firefighters needed physical exams and whether employers had to follow a stricter NFPA respirator standard. OSHA said its rules required firefighters to be…
Decontamination of equipment used at hazardous-waste sites
A member of Congress relayed concerns that equipment was leaving hazardous-waste sites without proper decontamination. OSHA said 29 CFR 1910.120(k) required a decontamination plan before entry,…
Emergency-response interpretation in North Carolina state-plan jurisdiction
North Carolina's emergency management office asked federal OSHA about hazardous-waste emergency-response requirements. Federal OSHA said it concurred with the technical interpretations in a December…
Use of nonapproved and improperly used respirators
OSHA told its regional offices how to handle three respirator uses: a smoke-filtering device for fires, a dust and mist respirator claimed for mercury vapor, and a powered respirator with a drinking…
Guarding hazards on vertical food mixers Unknown
An engineer reported hazards from unguarded vertical mixers in bakeries and restaurants. OSHA said the cited machine-guarding rules covered point-of-operation and rotating-part hazards and that…
Hazardous-waste emergency-response coverage in general industry
A senator asked how OSHA's hazardous-waste operations rule applied to ordinary industrial workplaces. OSHA said section 1910.120(q) applied where hazardous-substance emergencies might occur, while…
Employee emergency alarm systems under 29 CFR 1910.165
An alarm-system maker asked how several parts of OSHA’s employee emergency alarm rule applied to its equipment. OSHA said workers must be able to perceive and understand alarms, emergency messages…
Disaster unemployment benefit amounts, January to March 1991 Unknown
ETA supplied state average weekly benefit amounts to use when calculating disaster unemployment assistance for major disasters from January through March 1991. Its attachment listed each…
1991 federal civilian salary schedules for UCFE claims Unknown
ETA supplied revised annual federal civilian salary rates for state agencies processing unemployment claims by former federal employees. The rates were to help staff complete the UCFE claimant…
Emergency Title XII advance request fax procedures Unknown
This change to UIPL 3-91 gave governors and their delegates a fax route for urgent requests for federal unemployment loans or voluntary repayments. It said a fax or telegram needed prompt…
Florida blood banks insurance trust as a MEWA Unknown
A Florida blood banks association asked whether its group health trust escaped state insurance oversight under ERISA. EBSA said it covered workers of multiple employers and was a MEWA, so ERISA…
Employer payment for hepatitis B vaccine for nursing-home staff Unknown
Nursing-home representatives asked why employers had to pay for hepatitis B vaccination for workers exposed to blood or other infectious material. OSHA said its then-current interpretation required…
Sampling and laboratory analysis for benzidine congener dyes
An OSHA regional office asked how to collect and analyze samples for benzidine-related dyes and their metabolites. OSHA's technical center provided guidance on air and wipe filters, bulk standards,…
Laboratory Standard coverage for quality-control and environmental labs
A chemical manufacturer asked whether several quality-control and environmental laboratories were covered by OSHA's Laboratory Standard. OSHA said labs that support or control production generally…
Standards for coal barge unloading equipment Unknown
A testing laboratory asked which OSHA standards applied to a crane-supported coal unloader used at a power plant's barges. OSHA said the equipment fell under its longshoring standards, including the…
Laboratory Standard coverage for building-products testing
A building-products company asked whether its research and testing labs qualified for OSHA's Laboratory Standard. OSHA said it lacked enough facts for a definitive classification: research work…
Diversified Industrial Group collective bargaining exception Unknown
Three state insurance regulators asked whether a union-linked health trust could be regulated as a MEWA. Assuming its collective bargaining agreements were bona fide, EBSA said the trust fit the…
Oregon contractors health trust as a MEWA Unknown
A requester asked whether an Oregon contractors association health trust was a MEWA and an ERISA welfare or pension plan. EBSA separately considered whether it was fully insured. EBSA found a MEWA…
Joint Economic Total Trust as a MEWA Unknown
A requester asked whether the Joint Economic Total Trust was subject to New Jersey insurance oversight. EBSA found that its group benefits served employees of more than one employer, making it a…
Railway health services association as a MEWA Unknown
Oregon regulators asked whether a railway health association’s plan was a multiple employer welfare arrangement. EBSA said the plan covered workers of separate employers and was not tied to a…
Laboratory Standard coverage for electric-utility testing labs
An electric utility asked whether its water-testing labs were covered by OSHA's Laboratory Standard. OSHA said testing process water for electricity production was quality control and generally…
Excavation inspections and soil classification by a competent person
An OSHA regional office asked what a competent person must do when classifying soil and inspecting excavations. OSHA said a competent person must inspect before work and as needed during a shift,…
How this guidance is useful
- See how the agency reads the law: An opinion letter shows how a state labor agency actually applied wage-and-hour law to a real employer's or worker's situation.
- Check the status before relying: Every page shows whether the document is still active or has been superseded, rescinded, or withdrawn, and when that status was last verified.
- Guidance, not law: These documents explain the agency's position but bind no court, and the agency can change its view. The official document linked on every page is the authoritative source.
- Research across states: Compare how different states treat the same question, from overtime and travel time to tips and independent-contractor status.
Browse guidance by state
This library covers 8 states plus federal guidance so far. Every document is checked against the agency's official source before it is published, so states are added as their labor departments' guidance is verified, not all at once. If your state is not listed yet, its labor department's own site is the place to check.