US Department of Labor publishes final rule on reports filed by union officials

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards will publish a final rule revising Form LM-30, the Labor Organization Officer and Employee Report, in the Federal Register on Oct. 26.

The new rule promotes transparency by requiring union officials to disclose payments and interests that involve actual or likely conflicts between the official's personal financial interests and his or her duties to the union. The department intends to engage in compliance assistance and enforcement efforts to ensure proper reporting by union officials.

The new rule avoids unnecessary intrusions into labor-management relations by removing requirements to report transactions that create no actual or likely conflicts of interest. The rule announced today reverses one published in 2007 that expanded the length and complexity of the LM-30, but did not lead to additional useful information being reported by union officials.

The new rule becomes effective on Nov. 25 and applies to reports required by union officials with fiscal years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2012. For fiscal years beginning before that date, OLMS will accept this new form, the 2007 Form LM-30 or the original, pre-2007 Form LM-30. A copy of the revised Form LM-30 is available at http://www.dol.gov/olms/regs/compliance/GPEA_Forms/blanklmforms.htm#FLM30.

The department established Form LM-30 in 1963 pursuant to Section 202 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act to make public any actual or likely conflicts between union officials' personal interests and their obligations to the union and its members. These conflicts concern payments, interests and transactions involving the employers whose employees the union represents or actively seeks to represent; vendors and service providers to such employers, the official's union or the union's trust; and other employers from which a payment could create a conflict.

The final rule can be viewed at http://s.dol.gov/JD.