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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Point-of-operation guarding on a wire terminal machine Unknown
A company asked whether a specific automated wire terminal machine needed point-of-operation guarding. OSHA said the submitted design appeared to make access difficult and included interlocks and a…
Use of insurer loss-control reports during OSHA inspections
An insurer asked whether OSHA's use of its safety reports would damage its relationship with policyholders. OSHA said inspectors could review employer records, including insurer reports, to identify…
Stop Loss Concepts health trust as a MEWA Unknown
A requester asked whether Texas insurance laws applied to Stop Loss Concepts' benefit trust. EBSA said it covered employees of multiple employers and was a MEWA, so ERISA allowed state regulation…
United Dairy Association benefit plan as a MEWA Unknown
A requester asked whether the United Dairy Association health plan was subject to Texas insurance oversight under ERISA. EBSA found that it covered employees of separate employers and was a multiple…
'Belo' guaranteed-wage overtime contracts, though valid under federal law, do not satisfy California's IWC overtime requirements
An employer's counsel asked about "Belo" contracts -- guaranteed weekly-pay arrangements that pre-pay overtime for fluctuating hours, recognized under federal law since Walling v. Belo (1942) and…
A vacation plan that freezes ALL new accrual until an employee uses up every carried-over day is not an acceptable 'cap'
An employer proposed a vacation plan under which an employee who carried over unused vacation days into a new year would not accrue any new vacation until all the carried-over days were used. DLSE…
'Belo' guaranteed-wage overtime contracts, though valid under federal law, do not satisfy California's IWC overtime requirements
An employer's counsel asked about "Belo" contracts -- guaranteed weekly-pay arrangements that pre-pay overtime for fluctuating hours, recognized under federal law since Walling v. Belo (1942) and…
Who may inspect bakery ovens under 29 CFR 1910.263 Unknown
A company asked whether its staff could be recognized as qualified to inspect ovens for compliance with a bakery-equipment rule. OSHA said representatives of the oven maker could qualify if…
Brett-Guard blade protection on hand-fed ripsaws
A machinery company asked whether a particular manually adjusted table-saw guard met OSHA’s hand-fed ripsaw requirements. OSHA said a guard providing protection equivalent to an automatically…
HAZWOPER coverage for uranium mill tailings cleanup
A cleanup contractor asked whether OSHA's hazardous-waste operations rule applied to a uranium mill tailings project. OSHA said the work was a government-mandated hazardous-substance cleanup, that…
HAZWOPER coverage for general workplaces with hazardous-substance emergencies Unknown
A senator asked how OSHA's hazardous-waste operations rule applied to general workplaces with possible chemical emergencies. OSHA said section 1910.120(q) governed emergency response there and that…
OSHA jurisdiction over odorant tanks at pipeline facilities
A gas-odorizing company asked whether OSHA regulated refitted propane tanks used to store odorants at pipeline facilities. OSHA said another federal agency's exercise of safety authority could…
Protective clothing for airport crash-rescue firefighters Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked whether firefighters could wear structural firefighting clothing during airport crash and rescue work. OSHA said clothing meeting its cited fire-brigade rule could be…
Evaluating workplace first-aid training programs Unknown
A safety consultant asked why a named first-aid course met one OSHA rule but not another's CPR requirement. OSHA said it was no longer approving individual courses in advance; inspectors would…
HAZWOPER coverage for general-industry emergency response Unknown
Safety consultants asked whether the full hazardous-waste operations standard applied to ordinary industrial workplaces with possible chemical emergencies. OSHA said section 1910.120(q) addressed…
Follow-up blood lead tests and medical removal thresholds
An OSHA regional office asked how follow-up blood lead testing interacted with two medical-removal triggers. OSHA said a result above 60 micrograms per 100 grams of whole blood required a follow-up…
Select Business Development Trust as a MEWA Unknown
A requester asked whether a small-employer benefit trust was a MEWA and fully insured. EBSA found that it covered workers of independent employers and was a MEWA. The trust said it was not fully…
When petroleum tank cleaning is covered by HAZWOPER
A petrochemical service company asked whether cleaning petroleum storage tanks at terminals and refineries was covered by OSHA's hazardous-waste operations rule. OSHA said coverage depended on…
Manufacturer responsibility for material safety data sheet accuracy
An employer questioned whether a chemical supplier's material safety data sheet accurately listed hazards and protective equipment. OSHA said manufacturers and importers were responsible for the…
Estate claim to Nordstrom profit-sharing benefits Unknown
A retirement plan asked whether a Washington probate order could assign part of a participant’s benefit to his deceased spouse’s estate. EBSA applied the analysis in Advisory Opinion 1990-46A and…
Estate claim to Nordstrom self-employed retirement benefits Unknown
A retirement plan trustee asked whether Washington community property law let a deceased spouse's estate receive part of a participant's benefits. EBSA said the probate order arose from a probate…
Sisters of St. Benedict retirement plan as church plan Unknown
A Benedictine religious order asked whether its retirement plan for employees of affiliated institutions was a church plan. EBSA found the institutions controlled by or associated with the Catholic…
Training hazardous-materials responders for their assigned duties Unknown
A fire department asked OSHA to accredit its hazardous-materials training and whether response teams needed an asbestos course. OSHA said its proposed accreditation program was not accepting…
Authority to change OSHA citations at informal conferences
An employer asked what an OSHA representative could change during an informal settlement conference. OSHA said area directors could adjust abatement dates, violation classifications, penalties,…
Hazard communication for consumer products used at work
A safety software provider asked how OSHA treated consumer products used commercially. OSHA said the Hazard Communication Standard applied when employees' exposure was more frequent or longer than…
HAZWOPER training for employees in uncontaminated support areas
A cleanup contractor asked whether staff working only in a hazardous-waste site's support zone needed HAZWOPER training. OSHA said the standard could cover the entire cleanup area, but workers…
Drug-free workplace certifications for state UI grants Unknown
ETA told state unemployment agencies how to apply the revised federal drug-free workplace certification process to their grants. A state was to keep the original statewide certification in the…
Agriculture Producers benefit trust as a MEWA Unknown
A requester asked whether Texas could require an agricultural employers' benefit trust to obtain a certificate of authority. EBSA found that the trust served workers of separate employers and was a…
West Indies H-2A worker health and savings programs Unknown
The request asked whether health insurance and payroll savings programs for West Indian H-2A farmworkers were ERISA plans. EBSA said the health program was not one ERISA welfare plan because the…
Illinois Members and Clerks Trust as a MEWA Unknown
The request asked whether the Illinois Members and Clerks Trust was an ERISA plan and a MEWA. EBSA found it served employees of separate employers and was a MEWA, so ERISA did not prevent state…
Members and Clerks Group Insurance Trust as a MEWA Unknown
The request asked whether the Members and Clerks Group Insurance Trust could claim ERISA protection from state regulation. EBSA found that it provided benefits to workers of separate employers and…
HAZWOPER response duties in a laboratory setting
A research center asked which hazardous-waste emergency-response training rules applied to its laboratory. OSHA said there were too few facts for a definitive answer: incidental spills outside a…
Meaning of immediate, incidental and uncontrolled releases under HAZWOPER Unknown
A consultant asked OSHA to clarify emergency-response terms in its hazardous-waste rule. OSHA explained the immediate release area, uncontrolled and incidental releases, and when maintenance workers…
OSHA and FAA jurisdiction over airline ground-crew hazards
A senator asked whether OSHA could inspect and cite airline ground-crew hazards where the FAA also regulated aircraft operations. OSHA said an FAA-approved maintenance or operations manual could…
Who pays for hepatitis B vaccine screening tests Unknown
A nursing-home association asked who had to pay for a hepatitis B immunity test before workers received an employer-funded vaccine. OSHA said employers did not have to pay for a test a worker chose…
Hazard determination for hydrotreated re-refined oils
A lubricant maker asked whether re-refined oil could be treated as noncarcinogenic because a cited research review had not studied its process. OSHA said that omission did not establish safety; the…
OSHA jurisdiction over public-school radial arm saw injuries Unknown
An attorney asked whether OSHA's radial-arm-saw guarding standards applied to an injury involving a public vocational-school student. OSHA said it had saw standards but lacked jurisdiction over…
Hazard labels on outer shipping containers
A federal distribution center asked whether OSHA required hazard labels on outer shipping containers. OSHA said an outer package normally did not need its own warning if it merely held a separately…
First-responder versus technician training for hazardous releases
A turnpike operator asked whether an eight-hour first-responder course was enough for workers who might plug leaking fuel tanks. OSHA said plugging or patching a release was an aggressive technician…
Construction and Service Industry Trust as a MEWA Unknown
Texas regulators asked whether a construction and service industry health trust could avoid a state insurance certificate under ERISA. EBSA found that the trust covered employees of separate…
Governor requests for Title XII unemployment advances Unknown
ETA set procedures for governors to request federal loans when a state's unemployment fund could not meet benefit payments. A request had to cover a three-month period with a separate amount for…
Lockout and tagout during corrugated-metal production Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked how lockout rules applied to servicing during normal production in the corrugated-metal industry. OSHA said minor servicing could fall outside the lockout standard…
When minor chemical spills are incidental rather than emergencies Unknown
An attorney argued that a client's spills could be handled by nearby workers and therefore fell outside HAZWOPER emergency response. OSHA said nuisance or minor spills without immediate danger were…
Independent Distributors health plan as a MEWA Unknown
The request asked whether the Independent Distributors of America health plan was a MEWA and could be regulated by the state. EBSA found that it served workers of separate employers, making it a…
United Health Care Benefits Trust as a MEWA in New Jersey Unknown
The request asked whether the United Health Care Benefits Trust could avoid state insurance oversight under ERISA. EBSA found that the trust covered workers of separate employers and was a MEWA, so…
Disaster unemployment benefit amounts, October to December 1990 Unknown
ETA supplied state average weekly benefit amounts to use when calculating disaster unemployment assistance for major disasters from October through December 1990. Its attachment listed each…
United Health Care Benefits Trust as a MEWA in Texas Unknown
The request asked whether the United Health Care Benefits Trust was a MEWA and whether ERISA barred state insurance rules. EBSA found that the trust covered employees of separate employers and was a…
Greater Lafayette Chamber medical trust as a MEWA Unknown
The request asked whether a chamber of commerce medical trust was subject to the state’s unauthorized-insurers law. EBSA found that the trust provided benefits for employees of separate employers…
Texas Panhandle SelectCare program as a MEWA Unknown
Texas regulators asked whether a medical group’s SelectCare program for small employers was a MEWA and whether the state could require an insurance certificate. EBSA found that the program served…
New Jersey Licensed Beverage Association health plan as a MEWA Unknown
The request asked whether a licensed beverage association’s health plan could avoid state insurance oversight under ERISA. EBSA found that its benefits reached employees of separate employers,…
Southern pine scaffold plank grading designations Unknown
OSHA relayed the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau's description of Dense Industrial 72 and Dense Industrial 65 scaffold plank designations. The bureau said the designations referred to wood whose…
Full-time plant contractors and HAZWOPER cleanup rules
A plant operator asked whether contractors routinely assigned to its facility could follow HAZWOPER's workplace-employee cleanup provisions. OSHA said full-time contract personnel may use those…
Petrochemical inspection program and onsite contractors Unknown
OSHA clarified how its petrochemical inspection program selected firms and onsite contractors. It told inspectors to focus on contractors whose work could cause catastrophic events, including…
Texas homes for the aging medical trust as a MEWA Unknown
The request asked whether a homes for the aging association’s medical trust was a MEWA and whether a state insurance certificate could be required. EBSA found the trust covered employees of separate…
Electrical work coverage and written hazard communication plans
A consultant asked which safety standards govern painting and electrical work, and whether a written hazard communication plan must always be kept at a jobsite. OSHA said maintenance generally fell…
Electrical work under lockout and tagout standards Unknown
An electrical service company asked whether OSHA's hazardous-energy lockout/tagout standard covered its electrical work. OSHA said that standard did not cover electrical hazards from work on or near…
Safety data sheet duties of hardware distributors
A hardware trade group asked how distributors should provide material safety data sheets to business customers and workers. OSHA said commercial distributors must supply sheets with initial…
Machine guarding for drill presses and lathes
A laboratory asked about point-of-operation guards for drill presses and lathes. OSHA said its machine guarding rule applies to both machines and requires methods that protect workers from operating…
Hazard information for carcinogenic residues in mixtures
A requester asked whether a material safety data sheet must address a carcinogenic residue present below 0.1% in a reacted mixture. OSHA said the mixture's sheet generally need not include the…
When quality control laboratories fall under the laboratory standard
A manufacturer asked which of its laboratories were covered by OSHA's laboratory standard. OSHA said coverage depends on whether the work meets the rule's definitions of laboratory scale and…
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.