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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State self-employment assistance programs under the NAFTA Implementation Act Unknown
ETA explained how states could create optional self-employment assistance programs under the NAFTA Implementation Act. It described who could receive an allowance in place of regular unemployment…
Employer must pay for metal-free clothing required to pass a workplace metal detector
An attorney asked whether an employer could require employees to pass through a metal detector at the end of the workday, sending home without pay anyone wearing metal in clothing, zippers, bras, or…
On-call time, travel time, and vehicle expenses for beeper-dispatched service technicians
An attorney asked whether on-call vending-machine repair technicians who carry a beeper and drive their own cars between calls are owed pay for on-call waiting time, travel time to and between…
Testing ground-fault circuit interrupters at construction sites Unknown
OSHA instructed regional offices on testing construction-site ground-fault circuit interrupters. It said external testers could give inaccurate results and directed inspectors to use the built-in…
Recording tuberculosis cases on the OSHA 200 Log Unknown
OSHA instructed regional recordkeeping staff when tuberculosis infections and disease were presumed work related in certain workplaces and when that presumption could be rebutted. The memo also said…
District of Columbia Bar deferred compensation as governmental plan Unknown
The D.C. Bar asked whether its deferred compensation plan qualified for ERISA’s governmental-plan exclusion. EBSA said the integrated bar was an instrumentality of the District because it was…
Recording hearing loss after a prior threshold shift Unknown
An employer asked when an additional hearing-loss case should be entered on the OSHA 200 Log. OSHA said a recordable 25 dB shift established a new reference audiogram, and another entry was due only…
Restricted work and aggravated conditions on injury logs Unknown
An employer asked how to classify several restricted-work and aggravated-condition scenarios on its OSHA log. OSHA said duties expected at any point in the year counted as normal duties, and a work…
Logging restricted work when medical opinions differ Unknown
A lawyer asked how to log a case when an employee and the employer's physician disagreed about the worker's ability to perform restricted duties. OSHA said days could be counted as restricted work…
Classifying injuries and illnesses on OSHA recordkeeping forms Unknown
A refinery safety manager asked detailed questions about classifying illnesses, medical treatment, prescriptions, and restricted work on OSHA's then-current log. OSHA gave examples for hearing loss,…
Washing facilities at permanent construction workplaces
An OSHA regional office asked how construction washing-facility requirements applied. OSHA said paragraphs 1926.51(f)(2) through (f)(4) applied only to permanent workplaces, because a limiting scope…
Synthetic fiber sling strength in construction
An engineer asked how OSHA's construction rigging rules applied to Spectra fiber slings, which the standards did not specifically address. OSHA said slings used according to the maker's instructions…
First-aid response times and nearby medical help Unknown
A safety engineer asked what 'in near proximity' meant for medical personnel under OSHA's first-aid rule. OSHA said a three-to-four-minute response was required where severe injury could be…
First-aid response time under the near-proximity rule Unknown
A safety engineer asked what 'in near proximity' meant for first-aid availability. OSHA said expected life-threatening or permanently disabling injuries called for first aid within 3 to 4 minutes,…
Lockout rules for maintenance aboard fishing vessels Unknown
A lawyer asked whether OSHA's general-industry lockout rule covered maintenance on commercial fishing vessels. OSHA said that rule excluded maritime employment and that its shipyard rules covered…
Target-organ hazard warnings on chemical labels
A chemical-industry association asked OSHA to review draft ANSI labeling language. OSHA said its hazard communication rule required labels to convey specific hazards, including target-organ effects,…
Insulating barriers near overhead power lines Unknown
An insurer asked which insulating barriers could protect workers when cranes operated near energized lines. OSHA said rubber line covers may help with light brush contact but were inadequate where…
Recurring dialysis and intermittent FMLA leave
WHD considered a worker needing fixed dialysis appointments twice a week, with no available alternative job. It said medically necessary intermittent FMLA leave could continue while the employee…
Commissioned-salesperson overtime exemption and bona fide draws/guarantees against commission
A law firm asked DLSE to evaluate several sample commission pay plans for auto-dealership service advisors against the IWC Orders 4 and 9 overtime exemption for commissioned employees, including…
Roof Creeper scaffold apparatus and de minimis use Unknown
An inventor asked whether a roof platform could be used without the nails or ropes specified for roof bracket scaffolds. Based on the submitted patent, tests, and pictures, OSHA said proper…
24-hour ambulance shift overtime exemption: scheduled sleep periods, split shifts, and no waiver by agreement
A law firm representing an ambulance company asked six questions about IWC Order 9-90's provision letting ambulance drivers and attendants work a full 24-hour shift with every hour treated as…
Changing into protective gear may count as hours worked if required by the employer's business and more than de minimis
A meat-packing employer asked whether time its employees spend putting on USDA- and Cal/OSHA-required lab coats, head coverings, gloves, and ear plugs (plus optional comfort items like aprons and…
Personal attendant exemption: 'regularly' giving medication is a fact question, not a bright-line rule
A law firm asked DLSE to clarify or modify Interpretive Bulletin 86-1, which excludes from the Wage Order 15 personal attendant exemption any worker who "regularly" gives medication or takes…
Electronic PayTM card deposits can satisfy California wage-payment law, with a caveat on out-of-state bank records
Counsel for a payment-services firm asked whether Citibank's voluntary PayTM electronic debit-card program — used to pay employees who lack bank accounts, with pay deposited to a card accessible at…
Safety responsibilities for temporary workers
A staffing firm asked how OSHA's hazard communication duties applied when its employees worked at client sites. OSHA said the staffing firm and client shared responsibility: the firm provided…
Birmingham housing authority pension as governmental plan Unknown
A Birmingham housing authority asked whether its money purchase pension plan was governmental. EBSA said the authority was a public instrumentality under Alabama law, city appointment of…
Rules for rolling rooftop suspension scaffolds Unknown
An equipment maker asked which scaffold rules applied to rolling rooftop rigs that were not specifically named in OSHA's standards. OSHA explained why certain suspension-scaffold provisions did not…
Small gasoline containers on construction sites Unknown
A construction safety council asked about containers holding one gallon or less of gasoline. OSHA said metal or plastic containers listed or approved by the then-recognized testing laboratories…
Plain-language chemical hazard labels and safety sheets
A chemical manufacturer asked whether container-label warnings had to repeat material safety data sheet wording exactly and whether technical medical terms could be simplified. OSHA said labels…
Carcinogen determinations for cobalt compounds
A manufacturer asked whether an IARC review of cobalt compounds established a carcinogen label for its cobalt phthalocyanine sulfonate products. OSHA said the group summary might require checking…
Temporary U-bar guards for shipyard deck openings Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked the agency to rescind its acceptance of U-bar guards around temporary deck openings during ship repair and building. OSHA declined and explained why it considered the…
Access to material safety data sheets across worksites
A safety consultant asked whether one material safety data sheet repository could serve multiple buildings and whether one vendor's sheet or a CD-ROM could stand in for product-specific sheets. OSHA…
FMLA coverage of Louisiana legislative auditor staff
WHD considered employees of Louisiana's Legislative Auditor who worked in the state legislative branch and were outside civil service. Based on those stated facts, it said they fell outside the…
Substance-abuse return-to-work agreements and FMLA
WHD considered return-to-work drug-testing agreements following substance-abuse treatment. It said the FMLA did not alter employers' rights to maintain policies required by state workers'…
Correction on chemical mixtures under process safety rules Unknown
OSHA corrected its earlier answer to a chemical company about process safety management coverage for certain mixtures. It said toxic or reactive mixtures that were neither explosive nor flammable…
Recording bloodborne-pathogen exposure incidents Unknown
A lawyer asked whether a blood exposure involving someone outside the occupations covered by the bloodborne-pathogens rule could still be recordable. OSHA said injury-log requirements had a broader…
Working distances from energized conductors
An electrical contractors' group asked whether a universal two-foot rule governed work near energized conductors and whether distance was measured from a worker's reach. OSHA said required…
Medical surveillance for hazardous-materials response teams
A consultant asked whether technicians responding to uncontrolled hazardous releases were HAZMAT team members even if the plan did not name them that way. OSHA said regular offensive response duties…
Approval and grounding of electric construction tools
A tool company asked whether all electric construction tools needed testing approval and whether a listed double-insulated tool could use a two-prong plug. OSHA said electric tools had to be…
Aqueous hydrofluoric acid under process safety rules
A company asked whether aqueous hydrogen fluoride solutions fell under OSHA's process safety management rule. OSHA said hydrogen fluoride and anhydrous hydrofluoric acid were the same listed…
Employer may not deduct the cost of reissuing a lost or stolen payroll check from wages
A law firm asked whether an employer may charge an employee for the cost of replacing a lost or stolen payroll check, arguing a lost check differs from the cash-loss scenarios addressed in prior…
Barge-mounted crane securement and de minimis policy Unknown
A contractor requested a variance from the rule requiring cranes on barges to be positively secured. OSHA said a variance would not be needed for the described drill rig if it was used as proposed…
Demolition rules for interior rehabilitation work
A safety company asked whether interior gut rehabilitation without removing exterior or load-bearing structures counted as demolition. OSHA said the demolition rules applied to partial dismantling,…
Confined-space enforcement at construction sites Unknown
A shoring company asked whether OSHA's general-industry permit-space rule would be used at construction sites. OSHA said it would use applicable construction standards and, where appropriate, the…
Religious objections to hard hats under OSHA policy
An organization asked about exemptions from wearing hard hats for religious reasons. OSHA recounted the history of its earlier policy, including a 1991 memorandum broadening it beyond two named…
Disaster unemployment benefit amounts for January–March 1994 Unknown
ETA told state unemployment agencies to use the attached average weekly benefit amounts when calculating disaster unemployment assistance for disasters occurring January through March 1994. Each…
Fall-through protection from a tested skylight Unknown
A skylight manufacturer asked whether its tested skylights could satisfy OSHA's opening-guarding rules without a separate rail or cage. OSHA said the submitted test data suggested a properly…
Passenger seat belts on employee transport buses
A construction employer asked whether buses used to move workers within a plant needed seat belts at every passenger seat. OSHA said its cited motor-vehicle rule did not require passenger belts on…
Military pay schedule for unemployment claims by ex-servicemembers Superseded
ETA directed state unemployment agencies to use the attached military pay schedule to determine federal wages for UCX first claims beginning with the first week after April 2, 1994. Earlier first…
Retroactive disability pension and FMLA health premiums
WHD considered a city employee granted FMLA leave while a disability-pension request was pending. It said a later pension award with a retroactive payment date did not erase the employee's FMLA…
OSHA coverage of public employees and poster duties
A correspondent asked who federal OSHA covered and which workplace poster employers had to display. OSHA explained that federal OSHA lacked direct jurisdiction over state and local employees, while…
Compressed air used to clean workers or clothing
An employer asked whether workers could use compressed air to clean their bodies and clothes. OSHA advised against it in general industry and explained that air used for cleaning had to be below 30…
Bloodborne-exposure cases on the OSHA 200 Log Unknown
OSHA told regional recordkeeping staff that bloodborne-exposure log duties reached some workers outside the occupations covered by its bloodborne-pathogens rule. It also addressed names on the old…
Long-term disability benefits after FMLA leave
An employer asked whether a long-term disability plan could restart a preexisting-condition waiting period after an employee returned from FMLA leave. WHD said the worker must regain benefits…
Recording first-, second-, and third-degree burns Unknown
An employer asked when burns had to be entered on the OSHA 200 Log. OSHA said any work-related third-degree burn and second-degree burns larger than a pinhead counted as nonminor; smaller burns…
How to calculate overtime premium on mandatory banquet service charges paid as a bonus
A law firm asked DLSE to explain how to calculate overtime premium pay on the share of mandatory banquet service charges a restaurant distributes to workers on top of their regular hourly or…
Sick-leave accrual during unpaid FMLA leave
WHD addressed whether an employee continued earning sick leave during unpaid FMLA leave. It said FMLA protects benefits earned before leave but does not itself require additional sick-leave accrual…
Executive exemption's 'customarily and regularly' supervision requirement is a fact question, not a fixed percentage
Two attorneys, on opposite sides of the same pending matter, separately asked DLSE to define "customarily and regularly," the standard used to decide whether an employee supervises enough workers to…
Restricted-work entries for broad job classifications Unknown
An OSHA area director asked how a broad company job classification affected restricted-work entries. OSHA said all duties an employee normally performed or could be expected to perform during the…
Calibration gas bottles and the article exemption
A gas-monitor company asked whether its small pure-gas calibration bottles were exempt as articles under OSHA's hazard communication rule. OSHA said releases from the bottles could expose workers…
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.