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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Partner’s spouse participation in multiemployer pension fund Unknown
A multiemployer pension fund asked whether ERISA automatically barred the employed spouse of a partner in a contributing business from participating. The Department said the rule excluding a partner…
Load testing language for overhead cranes Unknown
A company asked whether 'should' in the overhead crane load-testing rule was merely advisory. OSHA said the paragraph had to be read with its related 'shall' requirements for test reports and…
Guarding lathe chucks under the general machine rule
An OSHA memorandum clarified guarding for production lathe chucks. It said the general machine-guarding rule applied because there was no specific chuck standard; a cited ANSI provision could guide…
Laminated plywood as scaffold planking Unknown
A plywood association asked whether laminated veneer planks could be used on scaffolds. OSHA said planking with equivalent strength could qualify if engineering data substantiated compliance, but…
Leader Foundation charity outside ERISA benefit plan status Unknown
A foundation asked whether cash and medical help to needy former employees of a long liquidated company made it an ERISA benefit plan. The Department determined that the described charity was…
Connecticut health plan measures and ERISA preemption Unknown
The request concerned whether two Connecticut measures could be applied to three Monsanto health benefit plans. The Department said ERISA preempted the measures for plans covered by ERISA Title I.…
Employee IRAs funded with employer affiliated mutual fund shares Unknown
A financial services employer asked whether employee IRAs funded with shares of a fund it underwrote would become ERISA pension plans. The Department said no plan would result if the IRAs met the…
Pacific Maritime vacation and holiday pay plans Unknown
Maritime employers asked whether collectively bargained vacation and holiday pay arrangements were excluded payroll practices. The Department said the separate funds paying those benefits made the…
Baltimore longshore guaranteed annual income fund Unknown
A longshore guaranteed income fund asked whether payments for hours of work unavailable during a year were ERISA welfare benefits or ordinary payroll. The Department said the benefits were tied to…
Ground-fault protection on permanent construction wiring
An OSHA memorandum addressed a portable tool plugged through an extension cord into a permanent 120-volt construction-site receptacle. It said a GFCI could be used but was not required in that…
Uniform spacing of manhole ladder rungs Unknown
A manufacturer asked for guidance on uniform rung spacing in sewer manholes. OSHA said a December 1978 instruction supplied spacing dimensions and superseded an earlier instruction. The archived…
Wells discrimination settlement trusts and ERISA coverage Unknown
A bank asked whether four court supervised trusts created to remedy employment discrimination were ERISA benefit plans. The Department said the trusts were not ERISA welfare plans because their…
Secured Oregon scaffold and lean-to prohibition Unknown
An Oregon safety official asked whether a scaffold design fell under the lean-to scaffold ban. OSHA said the secured design appeared different from a prohibited lean-to scaffold and should meet the…
Sheet metal training fund and ERISA welfare-plan status Unknown
A jointly administered sheet metal training fund asked whether its apprenticeship and training activities made it an ERISA welfare plan. The Department said it met the welfare-plan definition…
Crane-suspended working platforms Unknown
A crane company asked about hoisting workers on crane-suspended platforms. OSHA said a program directive and a variance allowed such platforms under controlled conditions because some alternative…
Equivalent fixed ladder cages and first-rung spacing Unknown
A designer asked whether four fixed-ladder cage sketches and a first-rung layout met OSHA's rules. OSHA said the cages appeared equivalent to the illustrated designs and allowed up to 12 inches from…
Fixed ladders as emergency exits
An engineering company asked whether a fixed metal ladder could serve as a second emergency exit. OSHA said the cited exit-route rules required minimum access width and stairs or a ramp where the…
Fixed ladders for periodic tower maintenance Unknown
A company asked whether a tower with two equipment platforms could use fixed ladders. OSHA said ladders meeting the fixed-ladder design rule appeared acceptable if employees used them only for…
Katz and Besthoff savings plan stock and promissory notes Unknown
A savings plan proposed exchanging employer shares for cash and employer notes and asked how ERISA’s employer security rules applied. The Department said the shares would qualify if they met the…
Job-made ladders versus manufactured portable ladders Unknown
A requester proposed selling disposable ladders built to job-made ladder specifications. OSHA said the job-made rules applied to ladders actually built for temporary construction use; a manufactured…
Anchoring machines and radial-saw return movement Unknown
A plastics company asked about anchoring fixed machines and installing radial saws. OSHA said nonskid feet could substitute for anchors when a machine did not walk, move, or tip, and explained that…
Columbus McKinnon discretionary retiree supplements Unknown
An employer proposed discretionary payments, granted for no more than one year at a time, to certain former employees already receiving pension benefits. Based on the employer's representations, the…
Location requirements for bulk oxygen storage Unknown
An engineer asked which bulk oxygen storage provisions applied to a proposed installation. OSHA said one provision covered aboveground outdoor systems and another covered systems in a fire-resistant…
Western Conference Teamsters pension service credit Unknown
A multiemployer pension fund asked whether its method of counting regular hours met ERISA service credit rules. The Department said it could not ignore work because an employer failed to contribute,…
Repeat citations and multi-employer worksite policy Unknown
A construction safety program asked how OSHA applied repeat-violation and multi-employer citation policies. OSHA described different geographic scopes for fixed and mobile businesses and said an…
New England Teamsters pension hours and partial year accrual Unknown
A Teamsters pension fund asked about capping counted hours at 40 per week and rounding partial year benefit credit. The Department said its hours method did not meet the prescribed alternatives and…
Fall protection for ironworker connectors Unknown
An ironworker asked whether connectors had to tie off during work and travel on a structure. OSHA said tie-offs were not always the safest method, but employers still had to provide other fall…
Grounding transmission-line clipping crews
A utility asked how OSHA’s transmission-line grounding provisions fit together. OSHA said clipping and tying crews on bare conductors had to work between grounds. Other overhead-line work could…
Douglas-Guardian retiree payments and pension status Unknown
A warehouse company asked whether its monthly payments to selected retirees created an ERISA pension plan. The Department could not assure the company that they fell outside ERISA because some…
Union pension account transfers and prohibited transactions Unknown
A union asked whether its account paying pension and death benefits to retired members was an ERISA plan and whether transfers to other union accounts were allowed. The Department said the benefit…
Maryland hospital group legal services plan Unknown
A requester asked whether a hospital's voluntary group legal services plan was an ERISA welfare plan. The plan provided prepaid legal services and received employer and participant contributions.…
Temporary bracing of masonry walls Unknown
A requester asked about bracing brick walls during construction. OSHA said failure to shore or brace a masonry wall would be cited under the general duty clause and pointed to an incorporated ANSI…
Lifelines on two-point and multistage suspension scaffolds Unknown
A scaffold company asked whether workers on suspended scaffolds needed individual lifelines. OSHA said the cited rule required them on two-point suspension scaffolds, while an agency directive…
Square-bar rungs on fixed ladders Unknown
A power company asked whether angled three-quarter-inch square bars could serve as fixed-ladder rungs. OSHA said that configuration met the rung rule if it satisfied the cited design requirements.…
Steel-mesh gloves for meat cutters Unknown
An association asked about steel-mesh gloves in meat cutting. OSHA said retail meat cutters doing little boning or breakdown work could forgo the gloves where frequent removal was needed, but…
Physical qualifications for crane and derrick operators Unknown
An engineering company asked about physical qualifications for crane operators. OSHA said the then-applicable requirements for specified crane and derrick operators covered vision, color…
Electrical switches on locomotives at grain elevators Unknown
An attorney requested a variance for a locomotive used near grain elevators. OSHA said unenclosed electrical switches amid grain dust could support a general duty citation, but the administrative…
Employee IRA purchase of current employer stock Unknown
An employee proposed moving distributed plan assets into an IRA and directing it to buy stock in her current employer from its corporate parent. The Department said the proposed fund and transaction…
Collective bargaining arbitrator outside ERISA fiduciary role Unknown
A federal mediation agency asked whether an arbitrator became an ERISA fiduciary by setting employers’ contributions to a welfare fund under a collective bargaining agreement. The Department said he…
Houston Chronicle proposed retiree supplements Unknown
A publisher proposed voluntary one year payments from general assets to certain former employees and surviving spouses. The Department said the proposed supplements did not themselves create an…
Sampling before spray-finishing and ventilation citations Unknown
An OSHA region asked when sampling was needed before citing spray-finishing operations. OSHA said the spray-finishing standard could be cited without lower-explosive-limit sampling in the described…
Retention of power-press inspection records Unknown
An OSHA region asked how long employers should keep power-press inspection and maintenance records. OSHA said retaining the last two records for each press met the rule's intent while standards were…
Water-based paints in spray finishing
An OSHA regional office asked how spray-finishing rules apply when only water-based paints are used. OSHA said residue controls under the cited spray-finishing rule still applied if drying left…
Covers for notches in scaffold planks Unknown
A scaffold plank manufacturer asked about notches at the ends of its planks. OSHA said the open notches qualified as floor holes and needed a secured cover or equivalent protection against people…
Construction standards on multi-employer worksites Unknown
A construction safety program asked how OSHA's construction rules applied on shared worksites. OSHA said each employer was responsible for its own workers and could be cited for exposing them to a…
Rollover protection on mobile hydraulic hammers
An equipment manufacturer asked whether mobile hydraulic hammers required rollover protective structures. OSHA said the construction ROPS rules did not apply to them at that time, but recommended…
Double connections during steel erection Superseded
An OSHA region asked about double connections while erecting beams and girders. OSHA accepted the described sequence with one end wrench-tight and the other finger-tight. A later correction directs…
Wood-lathe rules in a school shop Unknown
An engineer asked whether two OSHA woodworking-machine provisions applied to a normal nonautomatic 12-inch wood lathe in a high school shop. OSHA said they did not apply to that machine. OSHA…
Alloy steel chain in overhead hoisting
A tool maker asked about chain slings under OSHA’s general-industry standard. OSHA said the cited rule specifically addressed alloy steel chain for overhead hoisting and did not itself prohibit…
Emergency-only fixed ladder without cage or platforms Unknown
An OSHA region asked about a 120-foot fixed ladder used only for emergency exit. OSHA said the cage and platform requirements did not apply to that emergency-only ladder and advised posting…
Fixed-ladder cage height at side exits Unknown
A steel contractor asked about the required height of a fixed-ladder cage at a lateral exit. OSHA said the regulation required 42 inches above the landing unless other acceptable protection was…
Apprenticeship contest fund outside ERISA welfare coverage Unknown
An apprenticeship contest fund asked whether prizes for contest winners made it an ERISA welfare plan. The Department said it was not a covered training program, assuming the fund did not itself…
Lance employee stock purchase plan outside ERISA Unknown
An employer asked whether a voluntary payroll deduction stock purchase plan was an ERISA benefit plan. The Department said it was neither a welfare nor a pension plan: it provided no listed welfare…
Compressed-air cleaning and equipment endorsement
An inquirer asked about cleaning guns supplied above 30 psi and fitted with long pipes. OSHA said the setup could be used if a relief device lowered dead-ended outlet pressure below 30 psi and the…
Open notches in scaffold decking Unknown
A scaffold plank manufacturer asked whether notches in plywood decking needed protection. OSHA said the open notches counted as floor holes and required a secured cover or equivalent guard to…
Fall protection on refrigerator roof used for storage Unknown
A company asked whether a walk-in refrigerator roof used for occasional storage needed edge protection. OSHA said employees working near the edge required fall protection even if they visited only a…
Insulating fluid in hydraulic tools near energized lines Unknown
An attorney asked which hydraulic-fluid rule applied to tools used near energized electrical transmission lines. OSHA said the specific transmission-line rule required insulating fluid in those…
Occasional climbing on concrete-form walers Unknown
An OSHA region asked whether workers could climb the walers or stringers of concrete forms. OSHA said workers could occasionally climb pinned or welded walers during form work, but the walers should…
Wage-data disclosure and common paymasters under FUTA Unknown
ETA explained the new FUTA requirement to furnish unemployment wage records to AFDC agencies and the federal tax treatment of common paymasters for related corporations. Current status is unconfirmed.
Voluntary health and accident coverage outside ERISA Unknown
A union committee asked whether an insurer-offered health and accident policy for former industry-plan participants, including retirees and strikers, was an ERISA welfare plan. The Department said…
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.