Most Department of Labor materials are posted on the DOL Web site including the statutes, regs, executive orders & notices administered or issued by the Department. The DOL's Office of Public Affairs (202-219-8211) will fax press releases and other public information. For other questions and hard-to find materials, call the the DOL's Wirtz Labor Library (202-693-6600) or the library's law division (202-219-4169).
Administrative Law Judge Decisions: The DOL's Office of Administrative Law Judges posts DOL ALJ decisions. They can also be pulled or searched on Lexis.
Administrative Review Board Decisions: All ARB decisions are posted on the DOJ Web site by date and by party name.
ARB decisions are searchable on Westlaw (FLB-ARB). Created in 1996, the Administrative Review Board has jurisdiction to issue decisions formerly issued by the department of Wage Appeals Board (FLB-WAB), the Labor Board of Service Contract Appeals (FGC-LBSCA), and the Office of Administrative Appeals (FLB-OAA). The FLB-ARB database also contains all documents in the FLB-WAB, FGC-LBSCA, and FLB-OAA databases.
Benefits Review Board: The BRB "hears appeals of ALJ decisions under the Black Lung Benefits Act and the Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act." The DOL Office of Administrative Law Judges posts BRB decisions.
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA): The EBSA (formerly the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration or PWBA) administers a series of laws regulating pensions and other retirement benefits, notably the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The EBSA section of the DOL web site provides information about the Agency. The Compliance Assistance page links to relevant regulations, exemption determinations, advisory opinions, information letters, technical releases and field assistance bulletins, amicus briefs and the EBSA Enforcement Manual.
ERISA Advisory Opinion Letters: Are posted free on the Advisory Opinions page of the DOJ Web site back to 1992. For older opinions, an attorney from Niedweske Barber posts a collection covering 1974 to 2002, arranged by subject and opinion number. Advisory Opinions are searchable on Lexis (LABOR;ERISA) Westlaw, the subscription-based BNA Benefits Practice Center and the subscription-based BNA ERISA Compliance & Enforcement Library.
If you can't find what you need from the print or online options, you can call call a document retrieval service and ask them to pick up what you need from the DOL in D.C. They will probably want a case name and cite (if necessary, get the cite from an index).
Field Operations Handbook and Field Assistance Bulletins: The DOL posts much of its Field Operations Handbook, as well as Field Assistance Bulletins back to 2005. You can search the Field Operations Handbook on Lexis (LABOR;WHFOH).
Occupational Safety and Health Administration: See the separate entry for "Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)."
Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration (PWBA): See "Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA)", above.
Wage and Hour Division: The Wage and Hour Division of the DOL's Employment Standards Administration administers the minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor and record keeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and several other employment-protection laws. The Division's Web site posts information about the division, the relevant Federal statutes and regulations, forms and lots of layman-oriented explanations of employment laws for both employers and employees (www.dol.gov/esa/whd/).
Wage and Hour opinion letters are are published in roughly chronological order back to 1961 in the "Wage-Hours Administrative Rulings" pamphlets at the end of the CCH Labor Law Reporter. Selected letters are published in the "Wages and Hours Manual" included in the BNA Labor Relations Reporter (in the general index under "Opinion Letters"). Letters are available electronically from the following sources:
To get very recent opinion letters, call the Wage and Hour Division at 202-693-0067.
