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.
PY 2001 reemployment services grant planning Rescinded
ETA told state employment agencies how to plan and report use of the new $35 million in program year 2001 reemployment service funds for unemployment insurance claimants. It recommends early…
Hospital nurses’ volunteer and training activities
A hospital asked whether nurses’ community service, committee meetings, and conferences could be treated as unpaid volunteer or training time. WHD said activities controlled by the hospital,…
Asbestos exposure and citations when respirators are used
An asbestos-abatement consultant asked whether workers with respirators were overexposed when air monitoring exceeded the asbestos limit. OSHA said exposure is measured without credit for…
Questions and answers on denied-claim accuracy measurement Withdrawn
ETA sent state unemployment agencies 57 answers on implementing denied-claim accuracy measurement under the Benefit Accuracy Measurement program. The answers address sampling schedules, which…
Minimum disaster unemployment benefits for July–September 2001 Withdrawn
ETA supplied state and territory average weekly unemployment benefit amounts, calculated 50 percent figures, and rounded minimum Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits. These figures applied to…
FY 2002 funding requests for ICON programmers Withdrawn
ETA offered states a fiscal year 2002 supplemental budget request route for salary and benefits of up to one Interstate Connection programmer staff year. States were to exclude related overhead…
Reporting federal income tax withholding on ETA Form 2112 Unknown
ETA told state unemployment agencies to correct any ETA 2112 reports that omitted benefit amounts transferred to the IRS for federal income tax withholding. Agencies using the FEDTAX system were to…
Scaffold clearance from insulated power lines below 300 volts
A laboratory employee asked whether an OSHA magazine’s two-foot power-line clearance for a scaffold was correct. OSHA said the scaffold standard requires three feet from insulated lines under 300…
2001 Federal Schedule of Remuneration for UCX claims Withdrawn
ETA sent state unemployment agencies a revised federal military pay schedule for calculating Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers eligibility. States were to use it for first claims filed…
Encapsulated bridge shear connectors used as fall anchors Unknown
An OSHA technical office asked about a bridge contractor’s proposed shear-stud anchor system. OSHA said the cited shear-connector provision did not apply if all studs were encapsulated before…
Former residential fall-protection height limits for truss work Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked which height limit applied to truss installation on a three-story apartment building under former directive STD 3-0.1A. OSHA distinguished the directive’s Group I truss…
2001 changes to UC tax withholding and education benefits
ETA told states that a 2001 federal law reduced optional federal income tax withholding from unemployment benefits from 15 to 10 percent for payments made on or after August 7, 2001. The same law…
Three union employees in a California transit pension Unknown
A California transit pension plan asked whether three employees of the union representing public transit workers could participate. EBSA said those private-sector participants were de minimis among…
Money paid to dancers as gratuities under Wage Orders 5 and 10
A trade association asked how AB 2509's amendment to Labor Code section 350(e) applies to money a customer hands directly to a dancer working under Wage Order 5 or 10. DLSE answered that the…
Use of Form MA 8-7 after approval extension Withdrawn
ETA informed state unemployment agencies that OMB extended approval for Form MA 8-7, used to send state unemployment legislation and other materials to the Department. The letter directed states to…
Delayed start of denied and interstate claim accuracy sampling Withdrawn
ETA postponed the start of denied-claims accuracy sampling and paid interstate liable claim sampling from June 3 to July 29, 2001, after a software problem delayed implementation. It reduced the…
FY 2002 Unemployment Insurance State Quality Service Plans Withdrawn
ETA instructed state unemployment agencies on preparing their fiscal year 2002 State Quality Service Plans. The letter set federal priorities, planning and funding periods, reporting options, and…
Youth program audit and outcome data validation Rescinded
ETA informed states that a federal audit found serious gaps in reported positive outcomes and supporting records for an earlier out-of-school youth program. It asked states to notify local grantees,…
Labeling and shipping blood-contaminated medical equipment
A lawyer asked how manufacturers and employers should ship medical devices contaminated with blood. OSHA said equipment must be decontaminated as far as feasible, remaining contamination identified,…
Access to old exposure and medical records for a former worker
A family member asked how to learn whether a deceased former steelworker had been exposed to beryllium or uranium. OSHA explained its employee exposure and medical-record access rule and noted it…
Safety needles when withdrawing medication from a vial
A hospital asked whether staff must use a safety needle to draw medicine from a vial before switching to one for patient injection. OSHA said no extra control was required for the vial step because…
Tribal nurses and FLSA overtime scheduling
A tribal health operator asked WHD to waive FLSA overtime so its nurses could follow the same schedules as federal nurses at shared facilities. WHD said it had no authority to grant the requested…
Agency child-support withholding notices as domestic relations orders Unknown
New York asked whether state or county child-support agencies’ income withholding notices can be domestic relations orders for pension plans. EBSA said the described notices can meet that definition…
Domestic-partner coverage taxes paid by a welfare fund Unknown
A union welfare fund asked whether it could pay employment taxes and a gross-up arising from taxable domestic-partner health coverage. EBSA said participant tax payments and gross-ups must be…
PY 2001 labor market information planning grants Rescinded
ETA set planning and reporting requirements for state labor market information grants in program year 2001. It allocated $37.088 million among states and territories, required plans for core data…
OSHA authority over self-employed construction workers
A requester asked whether OSHA may cite a self-employed person at a construction site. OSHA said it has no authority over a worker who is truly self-employed and has no employees. A general…
Construction rules for a paving-material transfer vehicle
A lawyer asked which OSHA construction standards apply to a paving-material shuttle vehicle. OSHA said equipment and conveyor rules would ordinarily apply in ground-level paving, while other…
Fire barrier between oxygen and acetylene cylinders on a cart
A cart maker asked if a steel barrier between stored oxygen and acetylene cylinders meets OSHA’s separation rule. OSHA said it could if at least five feet high, rated for one-half hour of fire…
Temporary stair systems under construction stairway rules
A manufacturer asked OSHA to approve two temporary stair systems. OSHA said it does not approve products. It treated the ground-supported L-400 as a stairway and the low-angle A-500 as a stairway…
Hydraulic cranes and older construction consensus standards Unknown
A crane trade group asked whether older OSHA crane rules covered hydraulic cranes and whether newer consensus standards could be used. OSHA pointed to a hydraulic-crane provision and said equal or…
Unauthorized extension of a paid break
An employer asked whether an employee’s unauthorized extension of an allowed break caused the entire break to become unpaid. WHD said only the unauthorized extra time would be excluded from hours…
Olympic organizing committee and seasonal recreation exemption
An Olympic organizing committee asked whether its employees qualified for the FLSA seasonal amusement or recreation exemption. WHD said its 2000 receipts met the statutory six-month comparison, so…
HAZWOPER training for security guards at hazardous releases
An employer asked what HAZWOPER training security guards need when they raise alarms and control remote access to a release. OSHA said the stated limited duties fit the awareness level. Responders…
Needlestick control devices in healthcare facilities
A requester asked whether hospitals must use safety needles, when the duty applies, and how OSHA enforces it. OSHA said appropriate engineering controls are required where blood exposure is…
Religious objections to construction hard hats
A worker asked whether a 1975 hard-hat exemption memorandum was still in force. OSHA said its 1994 directive superseded that memo and generally avoided citations against employers when employees…
Structural-steel slip resistance in the 2001 steel-erection rule Unknown
A requester questioned OSHA’s approach to slip resistance on structural steel. OSHA described the negotiated rulemaking, testing, and the rule’s slip-resistance provision. OSHA now labels this…
Home care aides in adult homes and senior communities
A home care agency asked whether aides serving residents in large adult homes and senior communities worked in private homes for the FLSA companionship exemption. WHD said the described facilities…
State readiness checklist for increased unemployment claims Withdrawn
ETA asked state unemployment agencies to share a management checklist for handling potential increases in claims. The attached checklist prompts agencies to review staffing, service capacity,…
Psychiatric rehabilitation programs and FLSA coverage
A nonprofit psychiatric rehabilitation program asked whether its clubhouse activities were covered by the FLSA. WHD said the described charitable program lacked the business purpose needed for…
OSHA declines to forgive penalties for post-citation abatement
A member of Congress relayed a proposal to forgive OSHA penalties whenever an employer corrects cited hazards. OSHA said employers are expected to correct hazards before inspection and automatic…
Underground construction rules for workers alone in tunnels
A union safety coordinator asked if underground-construction rules apply to an employee working alone in a tunnel or connected shaft. OSHA said they do: limiting the crew to one does not eliminate…
Fall protection for roof blocking on low-sloped roofs Unknown
A requester asked whether carpenters installing roof blocking may use the fall-protection options for low-sloped roofing work. OSHA said the method of installation controls: blocking installed as…
Coordinating Trade Act and WIA One-Stop services Rescinded
ETA urged states and local One-Stop partners to coordinate Trade Act help with Workforce Investment Act services for trade-affected workers, including co-enrollment where appropriate. It recommends…
Welfare-to-Work administrative cost reclassification Rescinded
ETA allowed Welfare-to-Work grantees to apply a narrower definition of administrative costs to expenses incurred from July 1, 2000, even though the revised rule took effect later. It told grantees…
Final PY 2001 Wagner-Peyser labor exchange allotments Rescinded
ETA issued the final program year 2001 Wagner-Peyser allotments for state basic labor exchange services. It explains the statutory formula, a three percent reserve for states whose shares fell, the…
Piece-rate overtime and the FLSA regular rate
A requester proposed a “co-efficient” formula for piece-rate overtime that treated 60 hours of work as 70 hours when computing the regular rate. WHD said the formula did not comply with the FLSA. It…
Applicability of the state minimum wage to the California State University
An Assembly committee consultant asked whether California's minimum wage applies to California State University employees despite an Education Code provision about later state legislation. DLSE said…
Crane-hoisted access to communication structures Unknown
An FAA manager asked whether a communication-tower inspection directive applied to buildings and when crane-hoisted personnel platforms could provide access. OSHA said the directive covered…
Comprehensive WIA youth services in program year 2001 Rescinded
ETA gave states and local workforce boards guidance for operating comprehensive youth services in program year 2001 under the Workforce Investment Act. It addresses youth councils, the ten required…
Commuting in company vehicles and compensable time
An employer asked whether it could deduct a standard home-to-office travel time from employees who drove company trucks directly between home and job sites. WHD said qualifying normal-area commutes…
Home office sales consultants and administrative exemption
A telecommunications seller asked WHD to reconsider whether home office sales consultants qualified for the FLSA administrative exemption. WHD said their main work was selling products and related…
Realignment of the workforce help line and America's Service Locator partnership Rescinded
ETA revised how the national workforce help line and America's Service Locator would share information. States and local providers were told to enter and maintain their own service data in the…
Benefit Accuracy Measurement sampling of denied and interstate claims Withdrawn
ETA initially told state unemployment agencies to begin sampling denied claims and paid interstate liable claims for Benefit Accuracy Measurement in the week of June 3, 2001; UIPL 34-01 later moved…
Minimum disaster unemployment benefits for April–June 2001 Withdrawn
ETA supplied state-by-state average weekly unemployment benefit amounts, calculated 50 percent figures, and rounded minimum Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits. The figures applied to major…
Overtime payment for Saturday and Sunday work on public works (prevailing wage) contracts
A school district equal-opportunity official asked DLSE whether a roofing contractor working weekends on a public school job owed Saturday/Sunday overtime under the governing prevailing wage…
Indian tribal employment under federal unemployment law: questions and answers
ETA answered state agency questions about unemployment coverage of Indian tribes under amended federal law. It addressed which tribal enterprises and services are covered, when a tribe may reimburse…
Periodic inspections of lockout procedures and employees Unknown
A safety consultant asked whether every authorized worker must take part in each periodic lockout inspection. OSHA said inspections must review each energy-control procedure and each employee’s…
Web reporting of state SF-269 financial data Rescinded
ETA directed state employment agencies to begin entering SF-269 financial reports for specified 2000 and 2001 grants in its online system, starting with the quarter ending March 31, 2001. The letter…
Revised Welfare-to-Work financial and participant reporting Rescinded
ETA revised the quarterly financial and participant reporting rules for state Welfare-to-Work formula grants after the 1999 amendments. States were told to begin using the new format for the quarter…
Good Samaritan first aid, blood exposure, and sharps disposal Unknown
A first-aid trainer asked about voluntary first aid in a nonmedical office and personal insulin sharps. OSHA said an employee acting solely as a Good Samaritan is outside the bloodborne-pathogens…
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.