11/ 03/ 2005
from the U.S. Department of Labor
A free publication from the U.S. Department of Labor helps small-business employers understand their rights and responsibilities under federal employment laws. The Employment Law Guide summarizes DOL’s most widely applicable laws.
The guide describes statutes and regulations administered by DOL that affect businesses and workers. Each law has it own chapter organized by the standard discussed, such as wage and hour, health and safety or retirement. Within each chapter, sections describe which employers are covered by a certain statute, the basic requirements of each statute, employee rights, opportunities for compliance assistance, sanctions or penalties for non-compliance and correspondence to other federal, state or local laws. To give users a better understanding of each law, chapters link to the statute discussed as well as to interpretive materials and other regulations.
The guide is written in plain language, not legalese. It focuses on giving employers introductory information to help them develop wage, benefit, safety and health and non-discrimination policies for their businesses. The guide gives information to businesses, particularly new businesses, about which DOL laws most likely affect them. An overview describes the most applicable laws and covers three categories: generally applicable regulations, federal contractor regulations and industry specific regulations.
A farmer, for example, can find information in the overview guiding him to the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act and other agricultural specific regulations. Once he determines which laws apply to him, he can investigate chapters related to those laws.
Eight chapters center on DOL-administered regulations. Chapters include wages and hours of work, safety and health standards, health benefits and retirement, other workplace standards, work authorization for non-citizens, federal contractor wages and benefits, federal contractor equal opportunity and industry specific laws. The guide also provides specific information about the agriculture, mining, construction and transportation industries. It does not cover regulations administered by other agencies, such as the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission or the National Labor Relations Board. Nor does it address state regulated employment laws. For more information about state regulations, please contact your local labor department.
You can obtain an English or Spanish version of the guide. Download an online copy or order a hard copy by calling DOL’s toll-free help line at (866) 4-USA-DOL.
If you use the guide to formulate company polices, consider subscribing to e-mail alerts from DOL. These alerts will notify you of any changes to the guide or to other DOL regulations. For more help, click on the NFIB/DOL Compliance Assistance link below.
