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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Disability insurance benefits during FMLA leave
WHD answered whether an employer had to keep paying disability-insurance premiums during FMLA leave. It said disability insurance was outside the group health coverage that must be maintained,…
Life safety codes and OSHA exit requirements Unknown
An employer asked whether complying with NFPA 101 or a state building code satisfies OSHA exit rules. OSHA said NFPA 101 compliance meets its Subpart E requirements when the revised consensus…
Scheduling process hazard analyses by risk Unknown
A manufacturer asked whether it could analyze the most hazardous subunits first under the process safety management rule. OSHA accepted the proposed schedule if its priorities reflected the required…
Changes to leave benefits before FMLA took effect
WHD considered an employer that reduced paid disability leave before the FMLA took effect in August 1993. It said the new federal Act did not freeze preexisting benefit plans and allowed changes…
Hazard warnings for chemical labels and mixtures
A chemical company asked how specific label warnings must be and whether trace carcinogens must be disclosed in mixtures. OSHA said the warning must convey the actual hazard, including target organ…
Evaluating a suction system under the bloodborne pathogens rule
A device maker asked OSHA to endorse a suction system for use in medical offices under the bloodborne pathogens rule. OSHA declined to approve the product, explaining that compliance depends on…
Bloodborne pathogen coverage at pregnancy test centers
Pregnancy test centers asked whether the bloodborne pathogens rule applied to their staff. OSHA said it covers employees, based on reasonably anticipated exposure in their duties, including handling…
Confined-space enforcement at construction sites Unknown
A builders' association asked whether OSHA's new general-industry permit-space rule changed confined-space enforcement at construction sites. OSHA said it would cite applicable construction rules…
Documenting the flammable-liquid process safety exception Unknown
An employer asked what records support the process safety rule’s exception for flammable liquids stored in atmospheric tanks. OSHA said the exception is limited to storage and transfer equipment…
Recording bloodborne pathogen exposure incidents Unknown
An employer asked when bloodborne pathogen incidents had to be entered on the former OSHA 200 Log. OSHA distinguished incidents with no defined exposure from actual exposure incidents and explained…
Lost workday counts for temporary employees Unknown
A lawyer asked how to count lost workdays for an injured temporary worker whose assignment ends. OSHA said the count should reflect the lesser of the days the injury actually incapacitated the…
Employer duties for protective footwear and its cost Unknown
An employer asked whether the personal protective equipment standard required it to supply protective footwear without charging employees. OSHA said the employer had to assess foot hazards and…
Microwave treatment of regulated medical waste
An OSHA regional office asked whether a microwave system could turn regulated medical waste into regular waste. OSHA deferred the disposal decision to state and local authorities while federal…
Limits on OSHA approval of needle recapping devices
A medical device maker sought OSHA approval for a needle recapper, citing an earlier letter about another device. OSHA said it had not approved the earlier product either; it had only found that…
Liability and interest for reimbursing unemployment employers Unknown
ETA explained how states may make employers that reimburse unemployment benefits share unrecovered benefit costs, including through collective liability. It also described advance payments and…
Plan fiduciary earnings on benefit-check float Unknown
A requester asked whether a trust company could keep interest earned while benefit checks remained uncashed. EBSA said a fiduciary exercising discretion over plan assets would engage in prohibited…
Responsible party identified on material safety data sheets
A distributor asked whose contact details must appear on a material safety data sheet when it sells a manufacturer’s product under its own name. OSHA said the named responsible party must be able to…
Hazard communication for medications in medical offices
A medical office asked whether it needed safety data sheets for oral and injectable medications. OSHA said hazardous drugs can fall under the hazard communication rule, then described exemptions for…
Formaldehyde labels on medical waste containers
A medical waste handler asked whether outer cardboard boxes containing sealed bags of formalin-treated tissue need formaldehyde hazard labels. OSHA said its label rule applies to the container…
Keeping injury and illness logs at another location Unknown
An employer asked whether it could prepare and maintain the former OSHA 200 injury log away from the worksite. OSHA said the remote location needed information for timely entries and an updated copy…
Condominium managers as joint FMLA employers
WHD considered condominium associations with unpaid boards and a managing agent handling employee administration. It said a managing agent employing enough workers across associations could be a…
Equivalent job restoration after maternity leave
WHD answered a worker concerned about her job after maternity leave. It said an eligible employee returning from FMLA leave is entitled to the same or an equivalent position with equivalent pay,…
Mutual fund exemption for IRA investments Unknown
A bank asked whether an exemption for fiduciary-affiliated mutual fund investments could apply to IRAs it managed. EBSA said PTE 77-4 covers IRAs and other Code-covered accounts even when they are…
Tagout procedures at hydroelectric powerhouses Unknown
A federal power project asked whether its tag-only clearance procedure could continue under OSHA energy-control rules. OSHA said it could not decide without an on-site review and explained the…
Process safety coverage for flammable gas and liquid operations Unknown
A lawyer asked nine questions about process safety management coverage at flammable gas and liquid facilities. OSHA explained how quantities, nearby vessels, connected equipment, storage exemptions,…
Technical considerations for tandem crane loads in steel erection Unknown
An OSHA regional office asked about lifting several steel members on one crane line, often called Christmas treeing. OSHA’s construction office discussed the technical risks, rigging practices, and…
Electrical safety training for qualified workers
A union asked what training workers need before servicing or testing electrical equipment. OSHA distinguished qualified and unqualified workers and said only qualified people may work on certain…
Moving oxygen-fuel cylinders with regulators attached
A consultant asked whether oxygen-fuel cylinders with regulators installed could be moved on a special cart. OSHA treated those cylinders as connected for use and said the cart must hold them…
Separate buildings under the employee alarm rule
An employer asked whether three structurally separate buildings connected by a corridor counted as one workplace under an employee alarm provision. OSHA said each building, with its own exits, was a…
Process safety coverage during hydrogen peroxide delivery
A manufacturer asked whether a tank-truck delivery of concentrated hydrogen peroxide brought its receiving process under OSHA's process safety rule. OSHA corrected an earlier answer, explained the…
Attendant position during LPG transfer
An employer asked what “close” means for an attendant monitoring an LPG transfer. OSHA said the attendant must be near enough to see problems and respond at the connection point until the transfer…
Safety standards for aerial work platforms Unknown
A foreign equipment supplier asked which U.S. safety rules applied to its aerial work platforms. OSHA said it had no platform-specific requirement for the models described, but cited consensus…
A pre-employment 'trainee' screening process must be separate from, and not a condition of, employment screening
A personnel-services firm asked DLSE to confirm its proposed computer- skills training program for unemployed job seekers met the Division's twelve-factor test for a true "trainee" (as opposed to an…
Training when new chemical hazards enter the workplace
An employer asked whether comprehensive initial hazard communication training eliminates later retraining. OSHA said employers must review new chemical information and train affected employees when…
Dependent care reimbursements outside ERISA welfare-plan coverage Unknown
An employer asked whether its salary-reduction dependent care account was an ERISA welfare plan. EBSA distinguished reimbursement for care services chosen by each worker from an employer-provided…
ERISA plan duties when Medicare seeks repayment Unknown
A requester asked how health plans should handle Medicare requests to recover payments Medicare made first. EBSA said fiduciaries must account for the federal Secondary Payer rules even when a…
Generator grounding, extension cords, and trench shields Unknown
A safety consultant asked about extension cords and portable generators, fall protection, and using street plates with trench shields. OSHA explained the electrical and trench-shield requirements.…
Secondary wire ropes on suspended scaffolds
A scaffold association asked whether a secondary wire rope could attach to its own anchorage and to an outrigger, and whether a proposed trolley line was acceptable. OSHA said the rope setup could…
Lifting two empty shipping containers together Unknown
A marine operator proposed lifting two empty containers together using twist locks. OSHA said the operation could comply if it met eight conditions, including inspection, verified lock capacity,…
First-aid response proximity at worksites Unknown
An association asked what “near proximity” means for first-aid readiness. OSHA said first aid should begin within three to four minutes where life-threatening injuries are foreseeable, while a…
Insert earphones in occupational hearing tests Unknown
An equipment maker asked about using insert earphones for required occupational hearing tests. OSHA revised the conditions under which their use would be treated as a de minimis violation,…
Recording treatment complications after workplace injuries Unknown
A requester asked whether complications from treatment of workplace injuries changed the OSHA 200 Log. OSHA said additional lost days from physical therapy complications counted toward the original…
Multiple injury logs and job descriptions for floating workers Unknown
An employer asked whether it could keep multiple injury-log sets and how to list workers who move among departments. OSHA said extra sets were permissible if the current records were available to…
Hazard communication for sealed chemical sensors
A safety consultant asked whether small sensors containing corrosive chemicals were exempt as articles from hazard communication duties. OSHA said the exemption applies when normal use does not…
Ventilation rates for welding enclosures and hoods
A federal facility asked about minimum airflow rates for welding ventilation. OSHA said its enforcement approach at the time focused on whether ventilation kept harmful exposures below allowable…
Disposal and recapping of used radiopharmacy syringes
A radiopharmacy asked how the bloodborne pathogens rule applied to used unit-dose syringes returned from hospitals. OSHA said the used needles were contaminated sharps and regulated waste,…
Reporting pension separate-account assets on Form 5500 Unknown
A pension plan asked how to report investments held in an insurance company separate account. EBSA said the plan must include each underlying asset in the matching Form 5500 asset category, report…
Petroleum-based hand creams and latex gloves
A health product company asked whether workers using latex gloves could use petroleum-based hand creams. OSHA said hand cream was permitted in exposure areas, but petroleum-based products could…
A vacation-accrual cap that later drops to a lower cap after use is not a valid 'no additional accrual' policy
PayLess Drug Stores' counsel proposed a revised vacation policy allowing vacation to accrue day-by-day and carry over, but capping further accrual at roughly 17.5 days for nine months and then…
Recording injuries from fights on employer premises Unknown
An employer asked whether an injury from a fight on company premises counted as work related for the former OSHA injury log. OSHA said on-premises injuries were presumed work related, with limited…
When massage treatment made an injury recordable Unknown
An employer asked whether use of a hand-held massager made a case recordable on the former OSHA 200 Log. OSHA said preventive use without symptoms did not, while massage for a symptomatic worker…
Selecting the date of injury or illness for records Unknown
An employer asked which date belonged in an occupational injury or illness record. OSHA said to use the accident date for injuries and the initial diagnosis date for illnesses, or the earlier…
Attendance awards, vacation accrual, and bonuses on FMLA leave
WHD answered questions about attendance plans, vacation accrual and bonus pay during FMLA leave. It said protected leave cannot count against a no-fault attendance policy, but unpaid leave does not…
Safety Rail System under construction guardrail rules Unknown
An inventor asked whether a proposed rail system met OSHA construction rules. OSHA said it did not approve products, then listed the rule's requirements for height, strength, intermediate…
Drug safety data sheets in medical offices
A physician asked whether a medical office needed material safety data sheets for drugs. OSHA said FDA-regulated drugs can be covered, while solid final-form drugs for direct patient administration…
Extension cord indicators and grounding continuity tests
An OSHA region asked whether a light built into an extension cord proved grounding continuity. OSHA said the light showed only that the cord was energized; a proper continuity tester and the…
Formaldehyde pesticide labels and federal jurisdiction
Pesticide manufacturers asked whether OSHA formaldehyde labels were required for registered pesticide products. OSHA said federal pesticide law controlled labeling of those products and also limited…
JTPA dislocated-worker training as approved unemployment training Unknown
ETA told state unemployment agencies to treat qualifying dislocated workers who actually participate in Title III JTPA training, other than on-the-job training, as attending approved training for…
Warning stickers on stump grinders
A lawyer asked whether OSHA required stump grinders to display a warning against use by people below a stated weight. OSHA said it had no regulation requiring that particular sticker and suggested…
Construction manager duties at multi-employer worksites Unknown
A lawyer asked about a construction manager’s duties on a site with several employers. OSHA said the manager could be cited when its own workers were exposed, when its direction created a hazard, or…
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.
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- 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.