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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Frazee decision and religious objections to unemployment work
ETA explained the Supreme Court's Frazee ruling: a claimant's sincere religious reason for refusing Sunday work was not disqualified from constitutional protection merely because he belonged to no…
OSHA coverage where another federal agency regulates the same work Unknown
A labor department policy official asked how transportation agency rules affect OSHA's authority over truck and bus work. The Solicitor's memorandum said OSHA could not enforce its rules for a…
Employer educational assistance as a scholarship program Unknown
An employer asked whether tuition and education payments from its general assets created an ERISA welfare plan. EBSA said the described program was a scholarship program excluded from the ERISA…
Responsible-party identification on chemical labels
An anonymized requester asked whether a distributor could replace the named responsible party on shipped chemical labels with coded letters. OSHA said the label must identify the manufacturer,…
Negative air bags and glove bags for asbestos removal Unknown
A contractor asked whether a negative air bag met the asbestos rule's enclosure requirement. OSHA said it did if the other construction asbestos provisions were met. A later memorandum on the same…
HIV-labeled disinfectants for body fluid cleanup Unknown
A requester asked whether OSHA would accept disinfectants labeled for HIV-1 when cleaning body fluid spills. OSHA said it planned to amend its enforcement instruction to allow HIV-labeled products…
Who certifies HAZWOPER worker training
A safety professional asked whether OSHA or another person could review and certify his HAZWOPER qualifications. OSHA said the employer documents or certifies whether an employee’s experience and…
Exposure sampling outside air-supplied respirators
An OSHA regional office asked where to sample air when workers use supplied-air hoods and whether respirators can replace engineering controls. OSHA said exposure sampling must occur outside an…
Required programs at hazardous-waste treatment facilities
A requester asked how the phrase “as appropriate” affects HAZWOPER duties at hazardous-waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. OSHA clarified that employers still need programs to learn…
Drug safety data sheets under hazard communication
Two pharmaceutical industry groups asked whether package inserts could replace material safety data sheets for prescription drugs while OSHA considered rule changes. OSHA said the sheets were…
Plan reimbursement of sponsor administrative expenses Unknown
A plan sponsor asked whether its benefit plans could reimburse it for specified employee and other direct administrative costs. EBSA said the described reimbursement would not by itself violate…
Cut-flower first bunching stays under Wage Order 14 if later grading is significant enough to be final grading
A farm employer association sought further clarification of DLSE's earlier April 21, 1989 letter distinguishing Wage Order 13 (final grading and packing for market) from Wage Order 14 (agricultural…
Engineering controls for wood-dust exposure
A forest-products association asked what counts as engineered dust-removal equipment and how OSHA judges feasibility. OSHA said employers must select and install controls suited to their workplace,…
Safety data sheet duties for laboratories
A company asked what the Hazard Communication Standard requires laboratories to do with material safety data sheets. OSHA said laboratories have a narrower duty than other workplaces: they must…
Boom-mounted work platforms and aerial lift rules Unknown
A refinery association asked which construction standard applied to a work platform fixed directly to a crane boom. OSHA said the modification made the crane a personnel carrier subject to aerial…
Emergency response team training at a plating facility Unknown
A plating department asked whether its team for hazardous chemical spills needed the interim HAZWOPER emergency response training. OSHA said the described policy fell under the emergency response…
Medical surveillance and training for emergency responders Unknown
A company asked which emergency responders needed medical surveillance and training under interim HAZWOPER rules. OSHA said workers who only contained a release from a safe distance were outside the…
Rollover protection for a backhoe operator seat
An equipment manufacturer asked OSHA to reverse an earlier interpretation requiring a rollover protective structure for a backhoe operator’s seat on a described tractor. OSHA said the proposed…
Quick-disconnect couplings for oxyacetylene welding hoses Unknown
OSHA evaluated two quick-disconnect coupling series used on oxyacetylene welding hoses. It said they complied with the cited standards when installed with the supply-side female end and the sleeve…
Bakery-oven inspections and safety devices
A bakery-equipment lawyer asked who may conduct required annual oven inspections and which components count as safety devices. OSHA said qualified representatives of an oven manufacturer may conduct…
Cable strength and deflection for steel erection railings Unknown
A state safety official asked whether thinner aircraft cable could equal half-inch wire rope for temporary steel erection railings and whether midrails or deflection limits applied. OSHA gave…
Ground-fault protection and equipment-grounding tests
A construction company asked whether ground-fault circuit interrupters can replace the continuity tests required in an assured equipment-grounding program. OSHA said a GFCI does not test conductor…
Who may inspect bakery ovens annually
A bakers’ association asked how to satisfy annual oven inspection requirements when the original manufacturer no longer exists. OSHA said a qualified representative of any oven manufacturer may…
Personnel hoisting by barge-mounted cranes Unknown
A contractor asked whether barge-mounted cranes were exempt from OSHA's personnel platform rule. OSHA said they were covered and addressed controlled lowering, level operation, live booms, and…
Meaning of hazardous waste under HAZWOPER
A regional office asked OSHA for a simpler definition of hazardous waste under HAZWOPER. OSHA said it adopted EPA and DOT terminology for consistency and could not simplify it without losing that…
HAZWOPER scope at sites with no exposure hazard
An employer asked when a hazardous-waste worksite is exempt from HAZWOPER because no employee hazard exists. OSHA said the employer must show that the entire site lacks operations with actual or…
Retroactive pension purchase for a plan employee Unknown
An apprenticeship trust proposed buying a $127,597 retirement benefit for its sole full-time employee as recognition for past service. EBSA said that unexpected payment was not compensation for…
Safety data sheets for crude oil and natural gas
A senator asked whether oil and gas producers need material safety data sheets for crude oil and natural gas. OSHA said both are hazardous chemicals under its Hazard Communication Standard, so…
Consumer products under the hazard communication standard Unknown
A requester asked about the consumer product exemption from OSHA's hazard communication rule. OSHA said a court decision had restored the disputed provisions and the agency's earlier blanket…
HMIS and NFPA codes on material safety data sheets
A manufacturer asked OSHA to require HMIS and NFPA codes on material safety data sheets. OSHA said some numerical or alphabetical systems can be used for workplace labeling when the overall hazard…
Bank incentive bonus plan and ERISA pension status Unknown
A bank asked whether its deferred incentive bonus plan was an ERISA pension plan. EBSA said the written terms did not appear designed to pay retirement or post-termination income, but actual…
Respiratory protection while gauging sour-crude tanks
An OSHA regional office asked how respiratory protection rules apply when workers gauge sour-crude tanks that may release hydrogen sulfide. OSHA said air monitoring is generally needed before each…
Safety data sheets for commercial and retail chemical buyers
A member of Congress asked whether a retailer must pass material safety data sheets to all buyers of hazardous chemical products. OSHA said distributors supply sheets to downstream employers, retail…
1989 DLSE view of cut flower grading under Wage Orders 13 and 14
A farm employer association described two cut-flower operations where hand-crew harvesters place flowers in containers, and separate graders then sort by length, bud size, and quality, bundle them,…
Quality-control requests to employer representatives Unknown
ETA told state unemployment investigators to ask an employer’s agent where the employer keeps its original wage and separation records before requesting an investigation by another state. If the…
Blank injury logs at construction jobsites Unknown
A construction company asked whether it needed blank OSHA 200 injury logs at sites with no recordable cases. OSHA said blank logs were unnecessary, but a zero-entry summary had to be completed and…
Recording an injury that restricts normal work activity Unknown
An employer asked whether an injured worker assigned to seated tasks within the same job category had a recordable restriction. OSHA said the described injury restricted normal work activity because…
Release of calendar-year 1988 unemployment quality-control data Unknown
ETA gave state unemployment agencies procedures and dates for publishing their 1988 benefit quality-control results. It addressed report software, report format, state narratives, review of federal…
Anti-two-blocking devices on construction cranes Unknown
A construction company asked what OSHA meant by a positive acting anti-two-block device on a crane hoisting people. OSHA said the device had to stop lifting automatically before the block reached…
No. 9 wire as support for reinforcing-steel structures
A worker representative asked whether No. 9 wire can support reinforcing-steel walls, piers, and columns. OSHA said the cited construction standard requires adequate support and that, without…
Vacation trust as an ERISA welfare plan Unknown
A hotel company asked whether its proposed vacation-pay trust was an ERISA welfare plan. EBSA said the company was an employer under ERISA, and because the trust would disburse the vacation…
Minnesota conformity decision on withholding unemployment benefits
ETA reported the Secretary of Labor's decision that Minnesota's law allowing unemployment benefits to be withheld for a claimant's former employer tax debt failed federal conformity requirements.…
Partnership redemptions and significant plan participation Unknown
A requester asked when ownership changes require a partnership to retest whether benefit plans hold a significant share under the plan-assets regulation. EBSA said a partner’s redemption and the…
1988 federal tax amendments affecting unemployment insurance Unknown
ETA explained 1988 federal statutory changes affecting unemployment tax coverage, wages, dependent-care providers, and demonstration-project reporting. Its attached interpretation sets out…
Hazard communication for clerical staff at client sites
A member of Congress asked about hazard communication duties for a company whose clerical staff work at clients’ sites. OSHA said the site employer maintains sheets for chemicals under its control,…
Venture capital investments through partnerships or trusts Unknown
A proposed energy investment fund asked whether partnerships and trusts could qualify as venture capital investments under ERISA’s plan-assets regulation. EBSA said corporate form was not required:…
IRA stock purchase from a company linked to its owners Unknown
IRA owners asked whether their accounts could buy stock from a company in which they held interests. EBSA said the company was not a disqualified person solely through the cited employer and…
Claims review for in-service hardship distributions Unknown
A bank asked whether denial of a participant’s requested hardship distribution from a retirement plan must follow ERISA’s claims procedures. EBSA said the distribution appeared to be a plan benefit,…
State OSHA authority and clean towels for required showers
A union representative asked about state OSHA authority and the sanitation rule for showers. OSHA said West Virginia had no approved state plan, so federal OSHA enforced private-sector standards…
Hazard communication on multi-employer construction sites
OSHA instructed its regional offices how to apply the expanded Hazard Communication Standard to construction and multi-employer worksites. It said employers can exchange safety data sheet access by…
Crystalline silica exposure and hazard communication Unknown
A building materials manufacturer asked whether products containing crystalline silica were covered by hazard communication when testing showed no detectable downstream exposure. OSHA said the rule…
Polyethylene containers for combustible liquids Unknown
A chemical company asked whether combustible liquids could be stored in plastic containers rather than metal ones. OSHA said polyethylene containers could be treated as a de minimis violation if the…
A foreseeable mechanical breakdown is not 'a cause not within the employer's control' excusing reporting-time pay
A citrus packing plant that suffers mechanical breakdowns shutting down its wholly mechanical operation asked whether Wage Order 5(C)(3)'s exception to reporting-time pay -- for interruptions…
Personnel transfer baskets at offshore construction sites Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked about using a Billy Pugh basket to transfer people between an offshore platform and a boat. OSHA said the described basket did not meet the construction crane personnel…
Safety data sheet duties for chemical distributors
A member of Congress asked about a distributor’s duty to pass material safety data sheets to customers. OSHA said distributors send sheets with the first commercial shipment and after updates, while…
Asbestos medical exams after exposure ends
A lawyer asked whether workers need continued asbestos medical exams after their jobs no longer expose them. OSHA said annual exams are not required once exposure ends; under the general-industry…
Training guidance on crane-suspended personnel platforms Unknown
The OSHA Training Institute told regional staff how it taught the crane personnel platform rule. It said workers could be hoisted only when conventional access was more hazardous or infeasible,…
Face-mounted cartridges for mercury and chlorine respirators
A respirator maker asked whether its mercury and chlorine cartridges could be used on a face-mounted half-mask instead of the approved belt-mounted arrangement. OSHA said the configuration was…
Child-support locator access to state unemployment wage and claims data Unknown
ETA transmitted a DOL–HHS memorandum of understanding for child-support locator access to state wage and unemployment claims records. It directed state agencies to review legal authority, negotiate…
Protective clothing for formaldehyde in apparel work
An OSHA regional office asked whether only apparel workers who already have skin problems need protective clothing against formaldehyde. OSHA said protection is meant to prevent irritation 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.