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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Head Start workers and unemployment benefits between school terms
ETA says Head Start workers employed by community action groups generally are not treated as employees of an educational institution for the federal between-term unemployment benefit denial. Workers…
Affiliate insurer premium test for ERISA exemption Unknown
An employer asked whether a joint insurance arrangement between its affiliate Dorinco and Metropolitan met ERISA's section 408(b)(5) exemption. The Department said the described arrangement met the…
Plan-owned administrator and prohibited transactions Unknown
A multiple employer pension fund asked about forming a wholly owned corporation to serve employers and other plans, while the fund kept its own staff. EBSA said transactions with the wholly owned…
Shearing plastic syringe ends in a sharps collection system
A sharps-system supplier asked whether its device could shear the plastic end of a syringe before the needle dropped into a sharps container. OSHA said the bloodborne pathogens standard does not…
Hepatitis B vaccination records and tuberculosis testing offers
An employer asked whether a newly hired worker with a prior hepatitis B vaccination needed a fresh medical opinion, and which workers should be offered TB testing. OSHA said the prior vaccine series…
Joint labor enforcement initiative in poultry plants Unknown
A member of the public asked the Labor Department to form a poultry-industry task force. OSHA said it and the Wage and Hour Division were planning outreach and an enforcement survey to identify…
Two-person requirement for Class I asbestos glovebag work
A senator asked what each of the two people required for Class I asbestos glovebag removal must do. OSHA said the rule does not assign separate tasks; two people are required because a standard…
United Methodist care organization church plans Unknown
A Pennsylvania care organization affiliated with the United Methodist Church asked whether its employee benefit plans were church plans. EBSA agreed with a submitted IRS private ruling to the extent…
Use and accounting of Reed Act unemployment funds
ETA consolidated instructions for states on accounting for and using Reed Act funds transferred to their Unemployment Trust Fund accounts. Its attachments explain the legal conditions on…
New Jersey disability benefits through a broader ERISA plan Unknown
A New Jersey college association asked whether its disability program was exempt as a plan maintained solely to comply with state law. EBSA said each school’s plan offered benefits beyond the…
Miami Beach police insurance trust as governmental Unknown
A police insurance trust asked whether union administration prevented governmental-plan status. EBSA said coverage limited to current and former city police officers, union membership limited to…
Recording food-related illness after a required workplace lunch Unknown
An employer asked whether illnesses after a required on-site business lunch belonged on its OSHA 200 logs. Under its then-current recordkeeping guidance, OSHA said illness from the meal was…
Follow-up on the remuneration test: hourly overtime pay to exempt employees, per Boykin v. Boeing
This is DLSE's follow-up to its April 28, 1997 letter to the same attorney on the "remuneration" requirement for the administrative, executive, and professional exemptions. That earlier letter had…
Asbestos classification of wallboard and joint compound
An environmental-services company asked how OSHA classifies wallboard and joint compound under the construction asbestos standard. OSHA said they are separate materials for asbestos analysis, and…
Recording adverse reactions to medication taken at work Unknown
A law firm asked whether an adverse reaction to medication taken at work for a personal condition counted as a work-related injury. Under OSHA’s former recordkeeping guidance, OSHA said the on-site…
Medical treatment and repeat cases on former OSHA injury logs Unknown
An automaker asked when several treatments and repeat symptoms counted as recordable cases. Under OSHA’s former recordkeeping guidance, the letter treated prescribed antibiotics as medical…
Recording symptoms after a preexisting off-duty injury Unknown
An employer asked whether a worker’s back symptoms after an off-duty car accident belonged on its injury log. Under OSHA’s former guidance, OSHA said the case was work-related because workplace…
Repeat cold-compress treatment on former OSHA injury logs Unknown
An aircraft employer asked whether a second cold pack for the same workplace bruise changed a case from first aid to medical treatment. Under OSHA’s former recordkeeping guidance, the letter said…
Over-the-counter medicines and former OSHA log recordability Unknown
A physician asked whether writing a prescription for an over-the-counter medicine made a workplace injury recordable. Under OSHA’s former guidance, the letter said the drug remained nonprescription…
Annual training under the bloodborne pathogens standard
A healthcare professional asked why bloodborne pathogens training had to recur each year. OSHA said exposed workers need training at initial assignment and at least annually, with additional…
Mutual-fund fees reimbursing sponsor plan expenses Unknown
A plan sponsor asked whether it could receive fees from mutual funds offered to its pension participants. EBSA said the fund payments could count as reimbursement only to the extent the plan and…
Firefighter protective clothing for structural and proximity fires Unknown
A Navy fire-service director asked which protective clothing firefighters needed when moving between structural, airfield, petroleum, and rescue duties. OSHA said the clothing should match the…
Reporting time pay: employees sent home for poor performance
An employer asked whether it could pay telephone solicitors only for actual hours worked when it sent them home early because their pledge or conversion rates fell below the "house average." DLSE…
Correction to OSHA first aid training directive Unknown
OSHA notified regional administrators that a first aid training directive incorrectly said the National Safety Council did not conduct courses or certify trainers and trainees. The memo said the…
Asbestos checks before renovation of post-1980 buildings
A building owner asked whether records alone could establish that a post-1980 building lacked asbestos before renovation or demolition. OSHA said those buildings do not carry the same presumption…
Ladder access to flatbed trailers in construction
A contractor asked whether steps or ladders were required to get on and off a flatbed trailer. OSHA said its construction ladder rule was broadly worded enough to reach vehicle platforms, but it had…
Fall protection on communication towers and fixed ladders
A tower company asked whether enclosed ladder-safety hardware was required on communication towers. OSHA said no rule required a tower without a fixed ladder to have a ladder-safety device, but…
Competent-person inspections of scaffolds before each shift Unknown
A scaffold contractor asked whether the scaffold builder had to inspect a scaffold every day. OSHA said a competent person must inspect parts workers will use before each shift and after events that…
Documents supporting asbestos flooring installation dates
A requester asked what would support a building owner’s claim that asphalt or vinyl flooring was installed after 1980. OSHA said blueprints, purchase orders, work orders, contracts, or manufacturer…
Minimum disaster unemployment benefits for July–September 1997 Withdrawn
ETA supplied a state-by-state table of average weekly unemployment benefits, calculated 50 percent amounts, and rounded minimum Disaster Unemployment Assistance benefits. The figures applied to…
Federal position on remote unemployment claimstaking Withdrawn
ETA said its grants for telephone initial claims did not require states to adopt remote claimstaking as their single service method or imply that remote service was preferable to in-person service.…
Recirculating exhaust air in spray-finishing booths Unknown
An industrial-systems company asked OSHA to confirm when spray-booth exhaust could be recirculated to an occupied booth. OSHA said employers fully meeting NFPA 33-1995 specifications would not be…
Sharing OSHA case files for state or local criminal cases Unknown
An OSHA regional administrator asked what case-file information could be shared with a state attorney general in a criminal prosecution. OSHA said it would cooperate to the extent appropriate, while…
Seat belts and lights on older forklifts Unknown
A safety director asked which belts, alarms, and lights older lift trucks needed. OSHA said its standards did not require retrofitting older trucks with seat belts, backup alarms, strobes, or tail…
Welfare reform and employment and training services Withdrawn
ETA urged state job training and employment service agencies to coordinate with welfare agencies as the new TANF program began, while continuing services for other eligible job seekers. It described…
Wage Order 5 coverage: when incidental housekeeping services trigger the Public Housekeeping order
An attorney asked DLSE to clarify when Wage Order 5's "Public Housekeeping Industry" definition applies to businesses that only incidentally provide meals, housing, or maintenance services. DLSE…
Workers' compensation coverage for out-of-state employer's traveling employees
The Department of Consumer Affairs asked whether a Canadian telecommunications company sending its own Canadian employees to California for temporary disaster-repair work must carry California…
Child-support deductions from unemployment benefits under legal process
ETA told state unemployment agencies that a 1996 change to the Social Security Act broadened the legal process that can require child-support deductions from unemployment compensation. Orders from…
Diversification within grandfathered floor-offset pension arrangement Unknown
An employer asked whether allowing stock bonus plan participants to sell company shares and reinvest in a diversified fund would end an older floor-offset arrangement’s statutory grandfathering.…
Waiting time penalties: collective bargaining agreements cannot opt out of final-pay deadlines
The Screen Actors Guild asked whether its members had a wage claim when a commercial producer paid performers weeks late, given that the union's collective bargaining agreement already set its own…
Firefighter proximity and structural protective gear Unknown
An OSHA office clarified protective clothing for firefighters who may respond to aircraft crashes as well as building fires. It said personnel whose primary duties include crash and rescue need…
Retiree benefit association serving another health plan Unknown
A railroad retiree benefit association asked whether it could use excess facilities to provide point-of-service care for a separate national health plan. EBSA said use of excess fixed-asset capacity…
OSHA coverage and enforcement at dairy farms Unknown
A congressional office asked which OSHA rules covered dairy farms and whether large farms faced different treatment. OSHA said agricultural and certain general-industry standards applied to farms of…
Recognizing tractor rollover protective structures
A tractor company asked whether OSHA would automatically recognize a particular rollover-protection frame tested under international standards. OSHA said qualifying ISO tests could be accepted as…
OSHA standards for heating and plumbing service work
A mechanical contractors’ association asked which OSHA standards applied to heating, plumbing, and air-conditioning service workers. OSHA said general-industry rules generally govern service work,…
Temporary Army letter substitution for DD Form 215 Withdrawn
ETA temporarily allowed state unemployment agencies to accept an official U.S. Army letter requesting a corrected military discharge form in place of DD Form 215 for UCX eligibility decisions. It…
Licensed professionals under methylene chloride surveillance rule
An occupational-medicine group asked OSHA to require physicians to oversee all medical surveillance under its methylene chloride rule. OSHA declined, saying a licensed health professional could…
Coding telephone and electronic continued claims in BAM Withdrawn
ETA told state unemployment agencies how to code continued claims filed through telephones and other electronic methods in the Benefit Accuracy Measurement database. Claims initiated by telephone,…
Unpredictable intermittent leave and medical certification Unknown
WHD considered intermittent leave to care for an employee's wife when the dates could not be predicted. It said the FMLA did not require an exact leave schedule in the medical certification and an…
Salary deductions for FMLA leave by exempt employees
WHD addressed salary deductions for exempt employees taking FMLA leave. It said the statutory exception to the salary-basis rule permits proportional deductions only for eligible employees of…
Gloves during orthodontic procedures and latex allergy
An orthodontist asked whether gloves were needed for procedures with no expected contact with blood or saliva and raised concerns about latex allergy. OSHA said gloves are required when hand contact…
Methylene chloride standard and foam manufacturers
A senator relayed a foam manufacturer’s concern that OSHA’s methylene chloride limit would force use of more flammable solvents. OSHA said its rulemaking found compliance feasible and did not…
Mouthbit respirators for emergency phosgene escape
A chemical company asked whether workers could use a mouthbit respirator during an emergency phosgene release even though it was not approved for that gas. OSHA described narrow conditions for…
Disinfectant choices under bloodborne pathogen precautions
A disinfectant maker asked whether newly approved products with different kill claims changed OSHA’s universal-precautions approach. OSHA said employers must choose an appropriate disinfectant for…
HAZWOPER scope and modeled hazardous-waste exposure
An environmental firm asked whether worst-case air modeling plus protective equipment could establish that HAZWOPER did not apply at a waste site. OSHA said site characterization must consider…
Methylene chloride exposure rule and small-business feasibility
A member of Congress asked about the costs and scientific basis of OSHA’s methylene chloride rule. OSHA said its record supported a 25-parts-per-million eight-hour limit, described exposure controls…
Safety cages on a 24-foot fixed warehouse ladder Unknown
A lawyer asked whether a 24-foot warehouse ladder needed a safety cage under OSHA’s then-written rule. OSHA said literal compliance required a cage, but following the later ANSI 24-foot threshold…
Cleanup contractors at electric power facilities
A cleanup contractor asked whether OSHA’s electric power standard applied to hazardous-waste and industrial cleanup at power facilities. OSHA said coverage depends on the installation or exposure to…
Annual inspections of lockout and tagout procedures Unknown
A company asked whether it had to document lockout procedures for equipment with one energy source and how many procedures needed annual review. OSHA said the duty to have an energy-control…
Interchanging air cylinders on emergency respirators
OSHA warned regional offices that using another maker’s cylinder on a self-contained breathing apparatus normally voided its NIOSH approval. It allowed a temporary exception when a life-saving…
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.