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.
No documents match your search
Try different keywords or clear a filter.
Separate defined benefit plans report separately Unknown
EBSA said each defined benefit plan treated as a separate plan under the cited Treasury ruling was also separate for ERISA Title I reporting and disclosure. Each plan administrator had to meet those…
Walkway width for equipment maintenance access Unknown
A steel company asked what minimum width would be acceptable for a walkway used to maintain and reach equipment. OSHA said an 18-inch walkway would comply with the intent of its then-current general…
Minnesota usury law and ERISA participant loans Unknown
EBSA said ERISA preempted Minnesota’s general usury statute to the extent it applied to loans by employee benefit plans. The statute regulated lending broadly rather than banking, insurance, or…
Taco Bell voluntary disability plan ERISA exclusion Unknown
EBSA said Taco Bell’s California voluntary disability plan, as operated solely to provide state-mandated disability benefits, was excluded from ERISA Title I. Additional disability benefits required…
General industry rules for water well drilling
An OSHA region asked which standards applied to water well drilling. OSHA said employers engaged in that work should comply with applicable general-industry standards because the hazards resembled…
Uniform 13.75-inch rungs on a fixed ladder Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked how to treat a fixed ladder with uniformly spaced 13.75-inch rungs, above the rule's 12-inch maximum. OSHA said the condition could be noted as a de minimis violation.…
Rubber hoods over beards beneath respirators
A union asked whether a rubber diving hood under a respirator could provide a seal over a beard. OSHA said it would treat that arrangement as unacceptable in hazardous atmospheres without…
Grain elevator inspection guidance for mixed facilities Unknown
A company asked how OSHA's grain elevator inspection instruction applied to facilities with both grain handling and milling, and to several safety devices. OSHA said the instruction covered typical…
Third-class mail for benefit-plan disclosures Unknown
The Labor Department said the AFTRA funds could use second- or third-class mail for required plan materials without guaranteed forwarding if they requested address corrections and resent corrected…
Banks offering payroll deduction IRAs to their own staff Unknown
EBSA said a bank offering its public IRA products to its own employees through payroll deduction would not endorse the program solely by using one in-house investment option if the stated conditions…
De minimis treatment of indoor consumer-product storage aisles
An attorney asked whether consumer-product storage aisle arrangements that departed from the literal flammable-liquid table could be treated as de minimis. OSHA confirmed that understanding under…
Grounding portable generators and hand-held tools
An insurer asked about generator and power tool grounding on construction sites. OSHA said generators above 150 volts needed frame grounding under the cited 1971 code, while smaller generators could…
Safety chains at ladderway openings Unknown
An engineering firm asked whether chains could replace a swinging gate at a ladderway opening. OSHA said its rule called for a gate or offset passage, but chains offering at least equivalent…
Counterweights for two point suspension scaffolds Unknown
A scaffold company asked whether outrigger counterweights had to be made of non-flowable material. OSHA said the then-current rule required sound, rigid anchorage rather than naming a material,…
Passive brokerage custodian and transaction exemption Unknown
EBSA said Sutro, acting only as a passive custodian for Keogh or simplified employee pension accounts, was not a trustee for purposes of the cited prohibited-transaction exemption. Its lack of…
Tip-up guardrails for roof window cleaners Unknown
An engineer asked whether a particular hinged rooftop guardrail could protect window cleaners. OSHA said the described placement appeared to meet the intent of its guardrail rule, provided the…
Intercompany reinsurance in ERISA five-percent test Unknown
EBSA said premiums paid when one Sears-group insurer reinsured another’s plan coverage were not counted a second time under ERISA’s five-percent test for insurer contracts. The plan paid the…
Bricklayers health fund status and termination assets Unknown
EBSA said a bricklayers health fund remained an ERISA welfare plan even after employer contributions stopped, assuming the fund still operated under the trust agreement and its trustees remained…
IRA loans to a closely held company and self-dealing Unknown
EBSA said three described IRAs were outside ERISA Title I assuming they met the Internal Revenue Code’s IRA requirements. But their owners’ direction of loans to a company they owned was likely to…
New Jersey transit pension plans as governmental plans Unknown
EBSA said New Jersey Transit and its two controlled bus subsidiaries were state agencies or instrumentalities on the stated facts. Their employee pension plans were therefore outside ERISA Title I…
Minister’s Group Trust outside ERISA plan status Unknown
EBSA said the Minister’s Group Trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan because unrelated participating employers did not control it and its administrator did not act on their behalf. Individual…
New Hampshire health coverage law and ERISA preemption Unknown
EBSA said New Hampshire could apply the cited extended-coverage requirements to insurers selling group policies, including to ERISA plans. The state could not impose the same requirements directly…
Seat-belt requirements for trenching equipment
An OSHA region asked about a trenching machine with a plowing attachment. OSHA said the cited seat-belt rule applied while the equipment traveled to or from trenching, but not during the described…
Welfare-plan surplus transfer to employer pension plans Unknown
The Labor Department said a proposed transfer of surplus welfare-plan assets to cover employer pension liabilities would benefit the employers and violate ERISA’s exclusive-benefit rule on the…
Aggregating affiliated insurers for ERISA premium test Unknown
EBSA said three affiliated Transamerica insurers should aggregate their relevant premiums when applying ERISA’s five-percent test for insurance contracts with related benefit plans. The agency…
SEP disclosure method with a restricted savings option Unknown
EBSA said a non-Model simplified employee pension could use the cited alternative reporting and disclosure method even though its bank IRA offered a 90-day restricted withdrawal option. Meaningful…
Approved portable lights for ship repair work Unknown
An internal OSHA review considered whether specified portable lights could be used in ship repair. The memo said the maritime rules recognized Bureau of Mines approval for explosion-proof lights and…
Truman Medical Center pension plan outside governmental status Unknown
EBSA found Truman Medical Center was an independent nonprofit contractor rather than a governmental agency or instrumentality on the stated facts. Its retirement plan was therefore not excluded from…
Plan forfeiture rule and fiduciary duty in litigation Unknown
In a litigation letter, the Labor Department said trustees had to follow the plain meaning of an unambiguous plan forfeiture rule under ERISA and could not substitute policy preferences. It said…
GM savings plan and employer-note investments Unknown
EBSA said General Motors’ proposed retirement income plan was a pension plan and individual account plan. It would be an eligible individual account plan if it was a single qualified savings plan…
Salary continuation during medical absence Unknown
The Labor Department said Crum and Forster’s salary-continuation policy, funded from each participating employer’s general assets, was a payroll practice outside ERISA welfare-plan coverage even…
Single-provider payroll deduction IRA programs Unknown
The Labor Department said limiting a voluntary payroll deduction IRA program to one sponsor and one funding medium did not by itself amount to employer endorsement if specified safeguards were met.…
Access to original employee medical X-rays
A company asked whether workers entitled to medical records could examine original X-rays on site instead of receiving a free copy. OSHA said original films had to be preserved and made available…
California hospital district benefit programs Unknown
The Labor Department treated the Association of California Hospital Districts and its member districts as governmental entities on the stated facts. To the extent their programs provided employee…
Illinois Health Care Association benefit program Unknown
After investigating the Illinois Health Care Association’s health program, the Labor Department found it was controlled by a separate administrator, not by an employer association or the…
Bolted connections in fixed ladder cages Unknown
A ladder manufacturer asked whether vertical cage bars could be bolted to a horizontal hoop with the nut head inside the cage. OSHA said it would allow the connection if it developed enough strength…
Incipient fires and breathing apparatus
An employer asked how OSHA distinguishes incipient-stage from interior structural fires. OSHA said an incipient fire is small enough for initial firefighting without protective clothing or breathing…
Pension fund termination payments to former director Unknown
The Labor Department said proposed payments to a former pension fund director beyond his original contract were not compensation qualifying for the cited ERISA prohibited-transaction exceptions. It…
Fixed ladder rung dimensions while a rule is under review Unknown
A manufacturer asked about fixed ladder rung dimensions while OSHA was reviewing its standard. OSHA restated the then-current maximum 12-inch spacing and 16-inch minimum clear rung length, and said…
Food-stamp agency disclosure draft-language correction
ETA corrected draft state-law language for disclosing unemployment wage and claims information to food-stamp agencies. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
NAIC employee retirement plan as governmental plan Unknown
The Labor Department concluded that the National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ employee retirement plan was a governmental plan outside ERISA Title I. It relied on state support and the…
Audit requirement for Hunt Oil thrift plan Unknown
The Labor Department said Hunt Oil’s thrift plan could not use the cited limited audit exemption because its insurance contract held unallocated funds rather than only fully guaranteed, allocated…
Interlocks and barriers around rotating barrels
A safety consultant asked how to guard revolving barrels and drums. OSHA said a shared enclosure could substitute for individual guards if access stopped all rotation, controls stayed outside, and…
Coverage of six union welfare funds under ERISA Unknown
The Labor Department concluded that six jointly maintained laborers’ welfare funds met the coverage requirements of ERISA Title I and the earlier Welfare and Pension Plans Disclosure Act on the…
Alaska electric cooperative deferred compensation plan Unknown
The Labor Department could not classify Matanuska Electric Association’s deferred compensation plan as governmental without facts showing that a government body established or maintained it. It said…
Church-related school coverage after St. Martin
ETA explained the effect of the St. Martin and Grace Brethren decisions on unemployment coverage of church-related schools. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Asset buyer and pension plan party-in-interest status Unknown
The Labor Department said W.R. Grace would not become a party in interest to a seller’s profit-sharing plan solely by acquiring the seller’s assets on the stated facts. A later purchase or lease of…
1981 federal amendments affecting unemployment programs
ETA explained 1981 federal amendments affecting extended benefits, state unemployment financing, and federal unemployment taxes. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Seat belt load requirements on agricultural tractors
An agricultural equipment maker asked about tractor seat belt and anchorage loads under the rollover protection rule. OSHA said the seat belt load was not intended to equal the anchorage load…
Picking and carrying loads with a truck crane Unknown
A construction association asked whether a truck crane could pick up and carry a load without deploying outriggers. OSHA said the construction rules allowed that when the manufacturer rated the…
Integral steel guards on abrasive cup wheels
An abrasive wheel maker asked whether its steel-backed cup wheel met guarding requirements. OSHA said an integral guard strong enough to contain wheel fragments could protect the operator, even…
Color-change air purifiers and carbon monoxide testing
An OSHA region asked whether a color-change air purifier could replace testing carbon monoxide in breathing air from an oil-lubricated compressor. OSHA said the purifier did not measure carbon…
Travel-card and rental-car accident insurance Unknown
The Labor Department said neither free travel accident coverage supplied with an employer’s American Express card nor employee-selected rental-car accident coverage reimbursed by the employer was an…
Texas homebuilders benefit trust status Unknown
The Labor Department found the Homebuilders Association Employees Benefit Trust was created and controlled by a separate administrator rather than by an employer association. The trust itself was…
Assessing state unemployment reserve adequacy Unknown
ETA gave states guidance for assessing the adequacy of unemployment trust-fund reserves. Current status is unconfirmed.
Western Union furlough payments as pension benefits Unknown
The Labor Department classified Western Union’s involuntary-furlough payment arrangement as an ERISA pension plan rather than a severance-pay welfare program. The payments were tied to a…
Oil and gas bonus pool and ERISA coverage Unknown
The Labor Department said Anadarko’s annual override bonus pool was not an ERISA welfare plan and appeared to be a bonus program rather than a pension plan on its stated terms. It cautioned that…
Merchants Discount Service Association trust Unknown
The Labor Department said the Merchants Discount Service Association trust was not itself an ERISA welfare plan on the stated assumption that member employers neither voted in nor controlled the…
Fall protection for steel erection connectors Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked about fall protection for connectors and other ironworkers during steel erection. OSHA described when tie off, decking, or nets were expected, with qualifications for…
Early withdrawal penalties on plan bank deposits Unknown
The Labor Department said an ERISA exemption could cover penalties required by banking rules when a plan redeemed an employee bank’s time deposit early, even if a third-party trustee carried out the…
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.