U.S. Department of Labors Office of Labor-Management Standards issues
final regulation updating labor organization reporting requirements

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) today announced that on Jan. 21 a final regulation will be published in the Federal Register to update the Form LM-2. The changes will ensure that relevant information on union finances is provided to rank-and-file union members to better ensure transparency and accountability as required by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). The final rule continues the administration's commitment to transparency and accountability for corporations, pension funds and labor unions. The changes also reinforce the importance of timely and accurate reporting by establishing a procedure whereby the privilege to file the simplified report Form LM-3, which is designed for unions with receipts less than $250,000, may be revoked when warranted.

The Form LM-2 is the annual financial disclosure report filed with OLMS by labor organizations with annual receipts of $250,000 or more. The updates to the Form LM-2 will provide additional disclosure to labor organization members of the compensation amounts received by labor organization officers and employees; further details will be given about parties buying or selling union assets; and additional information will be disclosed regarding different categories of receipts. Smaller unions filing LM-3 forms that are delinquent or deficient in filing their simplified reports may have the privilege of filing the simplified form revoked.

"Since fiscal year 2001, OLMS investigations have yielded a total of 1,004 indictments with 929 convictions and court-ordered restitution of more than $93 million. We are confident that the changes we are making will both discourage embezzlement of union members' money and make such embezzlements harder to hide," said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Labor-Management Standards Don Todd.

OLMS is the federal law enforcement agency responsible for administering most provisions of the LMRDA. The agency's criminal enforcement program includes investigations of embezzlement from labor organizations, extortionate picketing, deprivation of union members' rights by force or violence and fraud in union officer elections. The agency's civil program receives and publicly discloses union annual financial reports, conducts compliance audits of unions and seeks civil remedies for violations of officer election procedures. In certain cases, OLMS also conducts joint investigations with other Labor Department agencies, including the Employee Benefits Security Administration and the Office of Inspector General, as well as other law enforcement agencies including the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

OLMS' public disclosure Web page at www.unionreports.gov contains union annual financial reports and additional reports required to be filed under the LMRDA. Other information, including synopses of OLMS enforcement actions, is available on OLMS' home page at www.olms.dol.gov.

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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.