Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure: Information for Neutral Practitioners on Filing Requirements
By H. CRAIG NEEL

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) enforces most provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA), including the reporting requirements as provided under Title II of the Act. In 2005 and 2006, OLMS issued advisories regarding the filing requirements for the Labor Organization Officer and Employee Report, Form LM-30, and the Employer Report, Form LM-10. Subsequent to these advisories, the labor community and those affiliated with the labor community have raised numerous concerns regarding the filing requirements. This has created numerous opportunities for neutral practitioners in the labor-management community to become involved in educational activities surrounding the Form LM-30 and Form LM-10 filing requirements. However, many neutral practitioners have limited knowledge of the LMRDA and its filing requirements. In order to facilitate the neutral practitioner's participation in educational activities surrounding the Form LM-30 and Form LM-10 filing requirements, this article presents a brief history of the LMRDA and an overview of Form LM-30 and Form LM-10 filing requirements.

The Landrum-Griffin Act

The LMRDA serves as an important component of our national labor policy in the United States . The LMRDA, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act, resulted in part, from congressional investigations conducted in the 1950's by the Senate's Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field, which became known as the McClellan Committee. The McClellan Committee was formed to explore corruption, criminal infiltration, and illegal activities in several prominent labor unions in the United States . Predominately, the committee focused on the exploration of improper activities in the labor unions; however, the committee also examined the labor relations practices of several employers and labor-relations consultants affiliated with these labor unions.

The committee ultimately found numerous instances of breach of trust, corruption, the disregard of the rights of individual union members, and other failures to observe high standards of responsibility and ethical conduct on behalf of labor unions, their officers and representatives, employers, and labor-relations consultants. The conclusions reached by the committee served to encourage the passage by Congress of the LMRDA in order to ensure union democracy and financial integrity within labor unions. The LMRDA created requirements concerning union reporting, reporting by union officers and others, elections of union officers, financial safeguards, recordkeeping, and other aspects of union operations.

The reporting requirements of the LMRDA serve as a cornerstone of the Act. These requirements help to ensure that labor unions, their officers and employees, affiliated employers, and labor-relations consultants are held to the highest standards of responsibility and ethical conduct when dealing with union finances and labor-management relations. The reporting requirements of the LMRDA seek to create a detailed and transparent reporting of the financial relationships and activities between union officers and employees, affiliated employers, and labor-relations consultants. Union officer and employees engaged in certain activities or having certain financial interests must annually file a Form LM-30, aptly named the Labor Organization Officer and Employee Report, with OLMS. Additionally, e mployers must annually file a Form LM-10, aptly named the Employer Report, with OLMS to disclose certain specified financial dealings with a union or officer, agent, shop steward, employee, or other representative of a union. Finally, labor-relations consultants must also annually file reports with OLMS to disclose certain arrangements and financial dealings with an employer; however, the filing requirements for labor-relations consultants are not covered in this article.

Forms LM-30 and LM-10

The Form LM-30 requires that a union officer or employee (other than an employee performing exclusively clerical or custodial services) report if the union officer or employee, his/her spouse, or his/her minor child have certain interests or dealings related to any employer whose employees the union represents or is actively seeking to represent. These interests or dealings consist of holding any securities or other interest in such an employer; having any income or other benefit from such an employer; having a part in any transaction involving securities or other interests in, or loans to or from, such an employer; having any business transaction or arrangement with such an employer; or having any securities or other interest in, or outcome or other benefit from, any business consisting in substantial part of buying from, selling or leasing to, or otherwise dealing with, such an employer. Additionally, any payments of money or other thing of value received from any employer or a person who acts as a labor-relations consultant for an employer, except payments permitted by § 302(c) of the Labor Management Relations Act, must be reported on a Form LM-30. Finally, any securities or other interest in, or income or other benefit from, a business which buys from, or sells or leases to, or otherwise deals with, the union or any trusts in which the union is interested, must also be reported on a Form LM-30.

The Form LM-10 requires that an employer report specific financial transactions or arrangements concerning a labor union, union officer or employee, or labor-relations consultant. The LMRDA defines an employer and OLMS has determined that Form LM-10 covers only certain types of employers. These types of employers are an employer whose employees the recipient's labor union represents or is actively seeking to represent; a vendor to the employer of the union members; a vendor to the union; a vendor to a trust in which the union has an interest; or an employer in active and direct competition with one of the four preceding types of employers.

The financial transactions or arrangements that are reportable include payments and loans made to any union or union official, other than payments of the kind referred to in § 302(c) of the Labor Management Relations Act, and payments and loans in the regular course of business by insurance companies and credit institutions; payments to any of their employees for the purpose of causing them to persuade other employees with respect to their bargaining and representation rights, unless the other employees are told about these payments before or at the same time they are made; payments for the purpose of interfering with employees in the exercise of their bargaining and representation rights, or obtaining information on employee or union activities in connection with labor disputes involving their company, except information obtained solely for use in a judicial, administrative or arbitral proceeding; and arrangements (and payments made under these arrangements) with a labor-relations consultant or other person for the purpose of persuading employees with respect to their bargaining and representation rights, or obtaining information on employee or union activities in connection with labor disputes involving their company, except information obtained solely for use in a judicial, administrative, or arbitral proceeding.

Exemptions and Educational Activities

The Form LM-30 and Form LM-10 reporting requirements are subject to several exemptions. Sporadic or occasional gifts, gratuities, or loans of $250 or less are not reportable if given under circumstances unrelated to the recipient's status in a labor union; however, once the aggregate value of a series of gifts or loans from one employer to a single union officer or employee exceeds $250 in a fiscal year then the value of all the transactions will be reportable. Payments or loans made in the regular course of business by banks and insurance companies are not reportable; and finally, payments made in the regular course of business without regard to a union official's status in the union are not reportable. Union officers and employee are not required to report bona fide investments in securities traded on a registered national securities exchange, shares of a registered investment company, securities of a registered public utility holding company, or any income from such bona fide investments. Additionally, holdings of, transactions in, or income from, securities not listed or registered as described above are also not reportable if the holdings or transactions involve $1,000 or less and the income received from any one security is $100 or less. However, these exceptions do not apply to gifts of stock, which are reportable.

The complexity of the Form LM-30 and Form LM-10 filing requirements requires that union officer, union employees, and affiliated employers continue to be regularly educated about the requirements. Neutral practitioners in the labor-management community should become educated about the Form LM-30 and Form LM-10 filing requirements as prescribed by the LMRDA. The neutral practitioner's involvement in educational activities surrounding these filing requirements will facilitate labor and management compliance with the LMRDA. Ultimately, this compliance helps to ensure that union officers, union employees, and affiliated employers are held to the highest standards of responsibility and ethical conduct when dealing with union finances and labor-management relations.

H. Craig Neel is the district director for the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), Nashville District Office. The above information concerning Form LM-30 and Form LM-10 was adapted from material on the OLMS website at www.olms.dol.gov . Additional information concerning the LMRDA can be found on that website or by contacting your nearest OLMS field office.

Labor and Employment Relations Association
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