DOL Issues Revised Reporting Form

Applies To Certain Transactions Between Labor And Management

On July 2, the U.S. Department of Labor published its final rule revising Form LM-30, which is designed to enhance financial reporting by union officials and employees. The new rule will go into effect on August 16, 2007.

Transactions reported on union LM-30 reports have a mirror image in the Employer Form LM-10 (which deals with the same transactions). The forms must be completed for certain financial transactions or arrangements between labor and management involving: 1) an employer whose employees their union represents or is actively seeking to represent; 2) other employers that come within certain designated categories; and 3) a business that deals with the labor organization, a trust in which the labor organization is interested (such as a pension plan), or an employer whose employees the union represents or is actively seeking to represent. Thus, for example, cited in the rule as a transaction which must be reported on Form LM-30 is a union official’s receipt of pay in excess of 250 hours from the official’s employer under a “no-docking” provision in a collective bargaining agreement (under such a provision, union officials may devote part of their work time to union business, such as processing grievances, with no loss of pay).

The final rule also confirms certain exceptions to the reporting obligation. For example, payments or gifts totaling $250 or less do not have to be reported, and payments or gifts valued at $20 or less need not be counted when determining whether the $250 threshold has been met. In addition, a union officer who is a bona fide employee of an employer whose employees the union represents would not have to report the wages and other benefits received as such an employee. Failure to file the appropriate forms under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act can carry criminal penalties.

Note: This article was published in the June/July 2007 issue of The Employment Law Authority.