LM-30 Reporting to the U.S. Department of Labor Follow Up Memo

Office of General Counsel

TO:           Statewide Officers
                Executive Board Representatives
                PEF Staff

FROM:      Rita J. Verga

DATE:       August 13, 2010

RE:           LM-30 Reporting to the U.S. Department of Labor

                Our File No. 7029-P

This is an update to Counsel’s December 18, 2007, March 31, 2008 and March 4, 2010 memoranda concerning LM-30 reporting requirements, which are available at www.pef.org.

As we previously reported, effective January 1, 2008 the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) expanded reporting requirements for individuals who may be required to file annual reports (LM-30) with the Department’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (“OLMS”) if they meet the conditions for reporting.  The expanded reporting requirement stemmed from the Bush Administration DOL’s redefinition of the term “labor organization employee” to include individuals who are not employed by their union, but who perform union work during their work day, and are paid for that time by the employer.  Thus, the new filing requirements were aimed at identifying how much employer-paid time is spent on union business, by union stewards and local leaders.  As a practical matter, the filing requirements never went into effect because the Obama Administration DOL gave filers a choice of using the old form or the new form.

The Obama Administration DOL has proposed a rule to repeal the changes to the LM-30 Form that were adopted by the Bush Administration.  The public comment period for this rule closes on October 12, and the AFL-CIO will be submitting appropriate comments.  Practically speaking, payments made by an employer under a union leave or no docking policy once again would not be required to be reported on Form LM-30.

We will continue to apprise you of developments in this area.

RJV/jbc