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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Ventilation rate for aircraft spray painting areas
The Navy asked what ventilation rate applies to aircraft corrosion-control hangars used for spray painting. OSHA said the cited standards set no single flow rate for spray areas; ventilation must…
Electrical wiring in warehouses storing hazardous materials
The Defense Logistics Agency asked what wiring classification applies in warehouses that store hazardous materials in sealed or closed containers. OSHA pointed to the electrical provisions of its…
United Church of Christ retirement center benefit plans Unknown
A United Church of Christ retirement center asked whether its pension and group health plans were excluded from ERISA Title I. EBSA agreed with a submitted IRS private ruling if both plans and the…
Worker chemical-exposure complaints and hazard communication
A member of Congress asked how government handles reports of workplace chemical exposure on behalf of a constituent. OSHA described how complaints can lead to inspections and said employers must…
1997 Work-Flex state demonstration applications Rescinded
ETA invited states to apply for the 1997 Work-Flex demonstration, which could give up to six states authority to waive specified local Job Training Partnership Act rules and Wagner-Peyser state-plan…
Protective clothing for aircraft firefighting
OSHA corrected a Navy memo that claimed it had approved structural firefighting gear for aircraft crash response. OSHA said its earlier decision not to cite such use was tied to the absence of a…
First rung spacing on fixed ladders and battery-room protective equipment Unknown
An employer asked about the first rung of a fixed ladder and protective equipment in a battery changing area. OSHA said its cited ladder standard set no first-rung spacing limit, though an ANSI…
1997 JTPA and Wagner-Peyser waiver requests Withdrawn
ETA told states how to request waivers of certain Job Training Partnership Act and Wagner-Peyser Act rules for the 1997 program year. The letter listed provisions that could not be waived, required…
Disinfectants labeled effective against hepatitis B and HIV
A disinfectant maker asked whether products with EPA claims against hepatitis B could satisfy OSHA's bloodborne pathogens rule without a tuberculosis claim. OSHA said EPA-registered products labeled…
Interim respirator enforcement policy for lead abrasive blasting Unknown
OSHA set an interim enforcement policy for two named CLEMCO abrasive-blast respirators used in construction lead work. It said inspectors would treat those models as having a protection factor of…
Training on nonmonetary determination quality measures Withdrawn
ETA announced three 1997 seminars for state staff responsible for evaluating the quality of nonmonetary unemployment determinations. It gave states nomination deadlines and said federal funds would…
Crane swing-radius barrier mounted on mobile equipment Unknown
A manufacturer asked whether a barrier attached to mobile equipment would satisfy OSHA's crane swing-radius rule. OSHA said the proposed device did not fully block the swing radius and might strike…
Phone-based question period for bloodborne pathogen training
A state hospital asked whether employees viewing a bloodborne pathogen training video at several locations could ask trainers questions by telephone. OSHA said a phone question period can work…
Disposal of syringes after a device destroys the needle
A device maker asked how to dispose of syringes after its machine destroys the needle. OSHA said the remaining syringe and hub no longer need a sharps container solely because of the destroyed…
1997 National One-Stop Career Center conference Withdrawn
ETA announced a May 1997 conference for workforce development staff about implementing the One-Stop Career Center system. It urged state agencies to circulate conference information to unemployment…
Expense reimbursement by mandatory direct deposit may not be compelled
A national payroll company asked whether it could require its California employees, as a condition of employment, to receive business expense reimbursements only through direct deposit rather than…
Minimum platform width for pump jack scaffolds Unknown
A scaffold company asked what platform width OSHA required for pump jack scaffolds. OSHA said the construction scaffold rule requires a platform at least 12 inches wide and that the 1996 requirement…
Enclosed work platform and water rescue skiff
An engineering firm asked whether an enclosed platform could replace personal fall arrest systems over water and whether it still needed a rescue skiff. OSHA said the platform could serve as fall…
Union drug testing trust outside ERISA welfare coverage Unknown
A pipefitters union trust asked whether annual drug testing required for covered work was an ERISA welfare benefit. EBSA said payment for tests alone, without care or counseling, was a method of…
Inspection decisions after workplace violence fatalities
A union official asked why OSHA did not automatically inspect every workplace violence death. OSHA said fatality investigations rank high in inspection priority, but area directors may make…
Professional exemption: physician assistants and nurse practitioners assessed case-by-case, no blanket exemption
An attorney asked DLSE to confirm that physician assistants and nurse practitioners are exempt from minimum wage and overtime under the "learned and artistic" professional exemption if they meet…
Ridge hook-supported ladders for roof work
A construction publication asked when workers may use ridge hook-supported ladders for staging access and roof repairs. OSHA said the applicable scaffold or ladder rules must be met and that no…
Learned/artistic professional exemption: truck driving instructors do not qualify as 'teachers'
In a wage-claim dispute, an attorney for a truck driving school argued its state-certified driving instructors were exempt "teachers" or "learned or artistic" professionals under IWC Order 4-89,…
Updating the OSHA injury and illness log summary Unknown
An attorney asked whether employers had to update the summary section of an OSHA injury and illness log. OSHA said two parts of its then-current guidelines conflicted, so it interpreted the rules as…
Cut flower industry: distinguishing Wage Order 14 field grading from Wage Order 13 final packing
Following a site tour of Half Moon Bay flower farms, the California Floral Council asked DLSE to clarify when packing flowers at the growing location falls under agricultural Wage Order 14 versus…
EPA-registered disinfectants for HIV and hepatitis B
OSHA revised its November 1996 disinfectant policy for contaminated work surfaces. It said EPA-registered products labeled effective against both HIV and hepatitis B could be used when the…
Determining the boundaries of a process under process safety management
OSHA answered a regional question about whether downstream equipment belongs within a covered chemical process. It said employers should first define connected and nearby equipment, then check the…
Catholic hospital pension and health plans as church plans Unknown
A Catholic hospital asked whether its pension, health, and dental plans were church plans. EBSA saw no reason to disagree with an IRS private ruling if the hospital and plans were structured and…
Request for comments on the UI Performs proposed system Withdrawn
ETA sent state unemployment agencies an advance notice of proposed rulemaking for the UI Performs performance system and asked them to comment by March 17, 1997. The attached notice sought views on…
Requiring an employee to apply for a corporate credit card does not violate Labor Code 450
An employee asked whether his employer could require him, as part of his travel-heavy job, to apply for a corporate American Express card based on his personal credit in order to access negotiated…
Online distribution of material safety data sheets
A manufacturer asked whether it could provide material safety data sheets to customers through a website. OSHA said the proposed consent, notice, and alternative delivery process appeared to meet…
PY 1997 Wagner-Peyser state planning guidance Rescinded
ETA gave states instructions for their 1997 Wagner-Peyser employment-service plans, including labor exchange services, unemployment claimants, veterans, and migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Its…
Tagout at remote electric power generation sites
A utility asked whether workers at remote facilities could use individual tagout to service equipment. OSHA said an employer may use a compliant lockout or tagout program, with a special rule when a…
Work-related travel and other injury-log questions Unknown
An employer asked how older OSHA recordkeeping guidelines treated travel between home and home-care assignments, logs at multiple sites, and an employee's tuberculosis diagnosis. OSHA said trips…
Restricted work activity in injury and illness logs Unknown
A state labor official asked how older OSHA recordkeeping guidelines treated an employee's restriction from operating a machine. OSHA said a restriction counted if it prevented a task the employee…
Recording back and arm conditions on an injury log Unknown
An occupational health nurse asked whether repetitive-work back discomfort should be logged as an injury or illness and how to log a combined back and arm condition. OSHA said back cases were…
Recording burns and delayed blisters on an injury log Unknown
An employer asked whether a work-related burn became recordable when a blister appeared days later. OSHA said blistering identified a second-degree burn even if delayed, and that a second-degree…
Rescue, training, and protective equipment for electric utility work Unknown
A utility worker asked numerous questions under OSHA's electric power generation and distribution rule. OSHA explained when crews need pole-top or manhole rescue capability, which workers must be…
Minimum benefits in grandfathered floor-offset plans Unknown
An employer asked whether raising minimum benefits in two defined benefit plans would end a floor-offset arrangement established in 1987 before the statutory cutoff date. EBSA said it would not if…
Minnesota nonprofit annuity plan outside governmental exclusion Unknown
A nonprofit youth program asked whether its employee tax-sheltered annuity was a governmental plan. EBSA said the nonprofit, rather than a governmental body, established and maintained it; voluntary…
Technical corrections to four unemployment insurance letters
ETA told state unemployment agencies to make specific wording corrections in four earlier program letters, covering federal unemployment tax provisions, income tax withholding, coverage, and food…
JTPA 1997 allotments, Employment Service estimates and program emphasis Withdrawn
ETA gave states their 1997 JTPA adult, summer youth, youth and dislocated worker allotments and preliminary Wagner-Peyser Employment Service estimates. The letter also set annual goals and planning…
Indiana Catholic hospital benefit plans as church plans Unknown
An Indiana Catholic health provider asked whether its medical and dental plan and retirement plan were church plans. EBSA agreed with IRS rulings if the organizations and plans still operated…
Asbestos bulk sampling of composite building materials
An OSHA regional office asked how its asbestos construction rule treats presumed asbestos material and composite wallboard samples. OSHA said the presumption covers thermal insulation and sprayed or…
Hazard communication duties for dental devices
A dental-products company asked whether OSHA would continue to require material safety data sheets for FDA-regulated dental devices. OSHA said the enforcement stay had ended and sheets were required…
Safe access to construction scaffolds after rule revision Unknown
A construction company asked whether an older OSHA interpretation about equivalent safe scaffold access still applied after the scaffold rule was revised. OSHA said the new rule no longer used that…
Asbestos duties for employee housing and wallboard sampling
A university official asked whether asbestos communication duties apply to private homes, employer-provided housing, and wallboard. OSHA said a homeowner doing work in a private home is not a…
1996 minimum wage rules for JTPA participants Rescinded
ETA told state workforce agencies that the 1996 youth opportunity wage did not apply to employment under the former Job Training Partnership Act. It said JTPA workers had to receive the highest of…
Minimum disaster unemployment assistance, January–March 1997 Withdrawn
ETA sent state unemployment agencies a table for determining minimum weekly Disaster Unemployment Assistance amounts for major disasters declared January 1 through March 31, 1997. It asked…
Fiscal 1997 unemployment workload validation Withdrawn
ETA told state unemployment agencies to continue validating their fiscal 1997 workload data. It made validation of nonmonetary determinations optional because the definition of that measure was…
Electronic services for material safety data sheet access
An electronic safety-data-sheet provider asked whether its service could satisfy OSHA's hazard communication rule. OSHA said manufacturers and distributors may use such services but retain…
Material safety data sheet information for an imported chemical
A chemical exporter asked OSHA for a material safety data sheet to compare with its own for a product shipped to the United States. OSHA said it did not maintain or approve manufacturers' sheets,…
HAZWOPER training certificates after employment ends Unknown
An employer asked whether former workers or their new employers could request HAZWOPER training certificates from a previous employer. OSHA said they could ask, but its rule did not require the…
Revised military remuneration schedule for UCX benefits Rescinded
ETA instructed state unemployment agencies to use a revised military pay schedule to determine federal wages for new ex-servicemember claims beginning after April 5, 1997. Claims filed earlier…
1997 Summer Youth program guidance and state allocations Rescinded
ETA told states how to run the 1997 Summer Youth Employment and Training Program under the former Job Training Partnership Act. It set goals for work experience and education, explained when youth…
Reallotment of 1996 JTPA Title III formula funds Withdrawn
ETA sent states a Federal Register notice identifying excess unspent JTPA Title III funds from program year 1995. The notice recaptures equivalent amounts from 1996 allotments and redistributes them…
Fall protection for entertainment-industry riggers
A theatrical workers' union asked which fall protection standards apply to riggers working high above a stage. OSHA said entertainment work generally falls under general industry rules, while…
Cross-view backup mirrors on delivery trucks
A member of Congress asked whether delivery trucks must have cross-view backup mirrors after a child was killed by a reversing truck. OSHA said it had no specific rule requiring those mirrors in…
Worker access to the OSHA 200 injury and illness log Unknown
A worker asked who could inspect the OSHA 200 injury and illness log. OSHA said employees, former employees, and their representatives were entitled to reasonable access to the entire log, not just…
Recording a punctured eardrum without treatment or lost work Unknown
An attorney asked whether a work-related punctured eardrum had to be logged when it caused no medical treatment or hearing loss. OSHA said that, under its then-current criteria, an injury with no…
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.