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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Extended-benefit disqualification draft-language correction
ETA corrected its earlier draft language for implementing extended-benefit disqualification provisions. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Garden State dental program and ERISA coverage Unknown
The Labor Department said Garden State Dental Benefits Program was not itself an ERISA welfare plan because it was neither an employer nor an employee organization. A union or employer arranging…
Max Factor severance program as welfare plan Unknown
The Labor Department said Max Factor’s proposed severance program was an ERISA welfare plan because it provided severance benefits. It was not a pension plan because its payments met the cited…
Unused sick-leave bonus outside stated ERISA categories Unknown
The Labor Department said Veda’s proposed bonus for employees who did not use sick leave was not an ERISA welfare plan or, by its express terms, a pension plan. It could not resolve whether…
Brokerage commissions returned to a pension plan Unknown
EBSA said the plan sponsor’s receipt of mutual-fund brokerage commissions would not itself violate ERISA’s transaction rules if the commissions were returned to the plan in the ordinary course of…
Buffalo and Mansfield frozen pension plans under ERISA Unknown
The Labor Department said the Buffalo and Mansfield pension plans frozen before ERISA remained covered by Title I to the extent they continued to provide retirement benefits. The fact that…
Profit-sharing plan stock exchange exemption Unknown
The Labor Department said a Consumers United profit-sharing plan’s proposed exchange of common stock for preferred stock and a canceled note, followed by company repurchases, could use an ERISA…
Heritage plan’s exchange for employer preferred stock Unknown
The Labor Department said a profit-sharing plan’s proposed exchange of an employer note and common stock for preferred stock would count as an acquisition under ERISA’s employer-securities…
Accountant audit requirement for three welfare plans Unknown
The Labor Department said three welfare plans with more than 100 participants did not qualify for the small-plan waiver of an independent accountant’s examination. A separately maintained account…
ERISA preemption of proposed New Jersey health coverage laws Unknown
The Labor Department said two proposed New Jersey bills requiring health insurance contracts to cover specified treatments appeared to regulate insurance and therefore would fall within ERISA’s…
Plan contributions and trustee duties for an employee contractor Unknown
The Labor Department said ERISA’s fiduciary rules did not bar contributions measured by work performed by a union employee who also acted as an independent contractor, or benefits owed under the…
Warning lines and monitors for built-up roofing Unknown
An internal OSHA request asked how fall protection options under a built-up roofing rule worked. OSHA described motion stopping, warning line, and monitoring systems and said a monitor could also…
IRA investments in custodian’s thrift certificates Unknown
The Labor Department said Capitol Thrift and Loan qualified as a similar financial institution and its thrift certificates were deposits for a prohibited-transaction exemption. IRA investments in…
Unfunded replacement of forfeited pension benefits Unknown
The Labor Department said South Bend Lathe’s proposed unfunded payments to replace pension benefits lost when employees moved from a former employer fit specified ERISA exclusions. If established as…
Electronic release buttons on exit doors
A company asked about a security door with an electronic release button. OSHA said employees must be able to open an exit route door immediately from inside without a preliminary action; an added…
Brokerage bonus pool and ERISA pension-plan status Unknown
The Labor Department said a brokerage bonus pool appeared, on the plan document alone, to pay bonuses without systematically deferring them to retirement or termination. It could not decide whether…
Inspection of fixed fire extinguishing systems
A plant security officer asked who could inspect and maintain a fixed fire extinguishing system. OSHA said an employer could train its own employee or hire a contractor for annual inspection.…
Fixed ladder clearance and access hatch deviations Unknown
An engineer asked about a fixed ladder's rung clearance and a small access hatch at an intake tower. OSHA said the one-inch clearance shortfall was de minimis, and the hatch deviation could be…
Employee SEP rollover to a separate broker-dealer IRA Unknown
The Labor Department said an employee’s voluntary rollover from an employer’s SEP IRA to a separate broker-dealer IRA would not by itself make the receiving IRA an ERISA pension plan. That answer…
Small welfare-plan reporting exemption for union trust Unknown
The Labor Department said a union welfare trust was part of the benefit plan, not the employee organization maintaining it, so the plan could not use the specific small welfare-plan exemption it…
Fixed-period deferred salary and ERISA pension status Unknown
The Labor Department said Petro-Lewis’s salary deferral plan was not an ERISA welfare plan and, on its written terms, was not a pension plan because payments followed a fixed schedule rather than…
Deferred trustee compensation for services through June 1977 Unknown
The Labor Department said a welfare trust’s former trustees could receive deferred health coverage after June 30, 1977 for services performed before that date, even if some still received full-time…
Citing reversed electrical polarity Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked whether and how to cite reversed polarity in electrical wiring. OSHA said the hazard could warrant citation and identified a new prohibition expected to take effect in…
Fixed ladder protection on communication towers Unknown
A communications equipment company asked about fixed ladders on towers. OSHA said an unbroken tower ladder over 20 feet required a ladder safety device or a cage with landing platforms under its…
Proposed supplemental payments to departing bank employees Unknown
The Labor Department would not assure United Virginia Bankshares that proposed extra payments to employees it expected to terminate were outside ERISA’s pension-plan definition. The employees had…
Massive vinyl chloride release under an emergency rule Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked whether a massive vinyl chloride release meant exposure at a leak point, in a worker's breathing zone, or across the work area. OSHA answered that the term referred to…
When automatic sprinkler requirements apply
A committee asked whether automatic sprinkler systems were within OSHA jurisdiction. OSHA said section 1910.159 applied when another OSHA standard required the system; systems not required by OSHA…
Apprenticeship fund assets held by a separate committee Unknown
The Labor Department said a St. Paul apprenticeship fund’s transfer of plan money to a separate committee account failed ERISA’s general rule that plan assets be held in trust by trustees. A…
Citibank sale of industrial-park trust to pension fund Unknown
The Labor Department said Citibank’s sale of an industrial-park trust held for benefit plans to another pension fund did not violate the cited prohibited-transaction and employer-property rules on…
Union death-benefit fund and ERISA reporting Unknown
The Labor Department said a union fund paying $1,500 when a member died was an ERISA welfare benefit plan. Its payment was more than the small gift covered by the remembrance-program exception, so…
Seismic blasting holes left charged before firing
An OSHA region asked about seismic exploration charges placed in a national forest but not fired immediately. OSHA said the described charged, capped, and stemmed holes ordinarily did not violate…
1980 federal amendments affecting unemployment benefits
ETA explained 1980 federal amendments affecting unemployment compensation, including extended benefits and state financing. ETA still lists the letter as continuing.
Employee stock purchase plan and ERISA coverage Unknown
The Labor Department said Bibb Company’s voluntary stock purchase plan was not an ERISA welfare plan and, on its written terms, did not defer income until retirement or termination. It warned that…
Prepaid dental agreement for small-plan reporting exemption Unknown
The Labor Department said an Arizona prepaid dental organization’s employer agreement could count as an insurance contract for a limited ERISA small welfare-plan reporting exemption. The…
Employee drilling-fund trust and ERISA plan status Unknown
The Labor Department said a proposed employee trust investing in a drilling fund was not an ERISA welfare plan and did not provide retirement income or long-term deferral on its written terms. It…
Oregon utility district retirement plan as governmental Unknown
The Labor Department said the Northern Wasco People’s Utility District retirement plan was a governmental plan based on representations that the public district established, administered, and funded…
Virginia transit employees’ governmental retirement plan Unknown
The Labor Department said a retirement plan for Richmond and Norfolk transit employees was a governmental plan excluded from ERISA title I. It relied on the cities’ and public transit bodies’…
De minimis ceiling-height deviation on an exit route
A company asked for a variance or clarification for a small ceiling-height deviation along an exit corridor. OSHA said the specific shortfall appeared de minimis because it had no direct or…
Diversification through pooled limited partnership Unknown
The Labor Department said a plan investing in the Atalanta pooled partnership should assess diversification by looking through to the partnership’s underlying investments. It declined to decide…
Employer-owned insurance backing death benefits Unknown
The Labor Department said life insurance policies bought and owned by Tandy to help cover its own death-benefit costs would not be assets of the proposed employee plan. The answer depended on Tandy…
Participant mortgage loans and reasonable interest Unknown
The Labor Department said an ERISA plan’s mortgage loans to participants must be prudent investments and bear a reasonable interest rate, judged against comparable lending risks and returns. A rate…
Sugar company insurance for growers’ workers Unknown
The Labor Department said a sugar company’s insurance program for workers employed by independent beet growers would fall outside ERISA title I if the company had no legal duty or agreement with the…
Retirement-linked monthly payments as pension plan Unknown
The Labor Department said Michigan Millers’ Living Income Benefit was an ERISA pension plan because it paid monthly benefits to qualifying retired employees. It appeared subject to ERISA title I,…
Fall protection provisions and overhand bricklaying Unknown
A bricklayers union asked whether several construction fall protection provisions applied to overhand bricklaying. OSHA said those specified provisions did not apply to that process for masons and…
Age-conditioned severance payments as a pension plan Unknown
The Labor Department said Upper Peninsula Power’s limited severance program was an ERISA pension plan, even though it called for voluntary termination payments. Its age 60 eligibility condition made…
Multiunion welfare trust and insurance-marketing concerns Unknown
The Labor Department said the Consolidated Labor Union Trust was an ERISA welfare plan as then constituted, and a plan could generally cover members of multiple unions. It warned that expansion…
Safeguarding die setters on mechanical power presses Unknown
A metal stamping association asked how OSHA's mechanical power press rule protected die setters during setup and jogging. OSHA said die setters faced point of operation hazards like production…
Dental association insurance programs and ERISA duties Unknown
The Labor Department said the Michigan Dental Association’s group insurance offerings were not themselves an ERISA welfare plan because the association was neither an employer nor an employee…
Paired shares as qualifying employer securities Unknown
The Labor Department said shares of two companies covered by a single profit-sharing plan could each be qualifying employer securities, even though the paired shares traded only together. That…
Insurer-employer annuity contract exemption Unknown
The Labor Department said Connecticut Mutual qualified as an employer maintaining the retirement plan for its general agents’ clerical employees for the cited prohibited-transaction exemption.…
Accountant audits for supplemental unemployment trusts Unknown
The Labor Department said five Phoenix Steel supplemental unemployment plans could not use the audit exemption for unfunded welfare plans because contributions passed through separate trust funds,…
Pay status for enforcement of a marital pension decree Unknown
The Labor Department clarified an earlier opinion about payments to a former spouse under a marital pension decree. Its pay-status requirement applied when the plan was to make a payment, not when…
Voluntary pension supplements for pre-1974 retirees Unknown
The Labor Department said Crocker National Bank’s proposed voluntary supplements for people retired before 1974 would not themselves form an ERISA pension plan for 1981. Later years could receive…
Halon 1211 extinguishers rated for Class A fires
An insurer asked whether Halon 1211 extinguishers could be used for Class A fire hazards after some received a new UL rating. OSHA said any extinguisher with a UL Class A rating was permitted for…
Age-based severance with disability benefits Unknown
The Labor Department said Bacardi’s severance program was both an ERISA welfare plan, because it paid disability benefits, and a pension plan, because its age-based payments provided retirement…
Guarding live parts in electrolytic cell operations Unknown
An OSHA region asked about a citation for live-part guarding on an electrolytic cell line. OSHA said the cited 1971 electrical provision did not fit a process where contact with live conductors was…
Workers compensation files and medical record access
An employer asked whether workers compensation files fell under OSHA’s medical record access rule. OSHA said coverage depended on workplace exposure, the medical content of a record, and how it was…
Individual steps in manhole risers Unknown
An engineering firm asked whether OSHA's fixed ladder rule applied to individual steps in manhole risers and conical top sections. OSHA said it did not, pointed to a separate instruction, and noted…
Covenant Life trust death benefits and reserve accounts Unknown
The Labor Department said employers’ plans using seven Covenant Life insurance trusts were welfare plans, not pension plans, if they paid only death benefits to designated beneficiaries and no…
GTO-79 group insurance trust and plan reserves Unknown
The Labor Department said employers’ plans using the GTO-79 insurance trust were welfare plans rather than pension plans if they provided only death benefits and no payments to employees or former…
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.
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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.