An operations manual for investigators and staff of the Wage and Hour Division (WHD), the arm of the US Department of Labor (DOL) charged with enforcing the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other federal labor laws. The FOH is written and maintained by the WHD and provides interpretations of statutory provisions, procedures for conducting investigations and general administrative guidance.

The FOH is not a regulation and is not binding on the DOL or the courts. However, the FOH can be useful for understanding DOL regulations and enforcement positions and has received judicial deference.

Portions of the FOH are publicly available, but there can be a delay between statutory and administrative changes in the law and FOH updates. As a result, some material in the FOH may not reflect the current state of the law or the DOL's interpretation of the law. The Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations are the official resources for regulatory information published by the DOL.

For more information on federal wage and hour issues, see Practice Note, Wage and Hour Law: Overview.