On June 2, the Department of Labor (DOL) launched its opinion letter program. The program spans five key enforcement agencies within the department:
- The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) will issue opinion letters.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) will provide letters of interpretation.
- The Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) will release advisory opinions and information letters.
- The Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) will issue opinion letters.
- The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) will provide compliance assistance resources through its new MSHA Information Hub, a centralized platform offering guidance, regulatory updates, training materials and technical support.
Opinion letters and letters of interpretation provide official written interpretations from the department’s enforcement agencies, explaining how laws apply to specific factual circumstances presented by individuals or organizations.
The department has also launched a landing page at dol.gov/opinion-letters. This site allows users to explore past guidance and provides an easy way to submit new requests to the appropriate agency.
Furthermore, to make letters of interpretation more accessible, the department updated the Letters of Interpretation webpage so you can now search by keyword, standard number, or date, and see direct links between standards and related letters.
Read the full DOL press release here.
Contact Kevin Cannon for more information.