Since its enactment in , the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act LMRDA or "the Act" has required employers and labor unions alike to file annual reports disclosing certain financial transactions relating to unions. One of the purposes of the Act is to reveal money spent by employers in efforts to sway their employees with respect to unionizing. Employers must file a Form LM within ninety 90 days of the end of their fiscal year, while unions meet their corresponding reporting requirements by filing a Form LM Lax enforcement of the LMRDA's reporting requirements in the past and a lack of guidance regarding exactly what payments must be reported have caused many employers to either fail to file a LM report entirely or to misinterpret the reporting requirements.
The DOL's recent announcement of a special enforcement policy and grace period for employers who timely file a Form LM for the fiscal year, along with the issuance of DOL "guidance" answering frequently asked questions about employer reporting requirements, makes this an excellent time for employers to audit their practices and ensure compliance with the LMRDA.
The special enforcement policy and grace period now in effect, however, allow employers who timely file a Form LM for the first time for the fiscal year to avoid filing Form LMs for past years in which they did not comply with the reporting requirements. The DOL has stated that it will not require a new filer to submit reports from previous years "absent extraordinary circumstances. Furthermore, an employer that has not instituted procedures to track reportable payments based on the mistaken belief that it was not subject to the LMRDA is now permitted to prepare a report that discloses transactions revealed by a good faith search without verifying the accuracy of the report under penalty of perjury.
Instead of the usual requirement that the organization's president and treasurer sign the Form LM, an employer may authorize the official who supervised or conducted the good faith search to sign the Form LM for the fiscal year. This special enforcement policy provides employers who have not closely tracked relevant financial transactions an opportunity to nonetheless meet the reporting requirements for the fiscal year. The financial transactions that must be reported on the Form LM share one common feature — they are all payments that may give the appearance that the employer is trying to influence unions or employees with respect to their bargaining and representation rights.
The goal of the Form LM is to bring these payments out into the open. While some payments obviously must be disclosed, others are less evident. Employers must generally disclose all payments and loans made to any union or union official. However, the following types of payments to unions and union officials need not be disclosed: 1 payments and loans made by insurance companies and credit institutions in the regular course of business; 2 wages and other compensation paid to employees as compensation for, or by reason of, their services as an employee; 3 payments made to satisfy a court or administrative judgment or to settle a dispute; 4 payments made to sell or purchase an article or commodity at the prevailing market price in the regular course of business; 5 payments of union dues deducted from employees wages; and 6 payments to certain health and welfare trust funds or labor management committees.
Gifts from employers to unions and union officials can create the appearance that the employer is attempting to influence the union.
Employers may give some items of value to unions, however, without even realizing it. For example, an employer may provide food or beverages to union officials or pay for a conference room for collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
Must an employer report these small payments? Not if these payments fall within the de minimis exemption discussed below. Form LM contains a de minimis exemption, which does not require employers to report "sporadic or occasional gifts, gratuities, or favors of insubstantial value, given under circumstances and terms unrelated to the recipients' status in a labor organization.
For a payment to fall under the de minimis exemption, several requirements must be met. First, the value of the gift or favor must be "insubstantial. Payments from multiple employees to a union should be treated as originating from a single employer and totaled to determine whether the maximum aggregate value for the de minimis exemption has been met. In other words, gifts no longer need to be "sporadic or occasional" to fall within the de minimis exemption.
Third, the gift or gratuity must be "unrelated to the recipient's status in a labor organization. It shall be the duty of the secretary or corresponding principal officer of each labor organization, in the case of a local labor organization, to forward a copy of each collective bargaining agreement made by such labor organization with any employer to any employee who requests such a copy and whose rights as such employee are directly affected by such agreement, and in the case of a labor organization other than a local labor organization, to forward a copy of any such agreement to each constituent unit which has members directly affected by such agreement; and such officer shall maintain at the principal office of the labor organization of which he is an officer copies of any such agreement made or received by such labor organization, which copies shall be available for inspection by any member or by any employee whose rights are affected by such agreement.
The provisions of section shall be applicable in the enforcement of this section. Every labor organization shall inform its members concerning the provisions of this Act. Any change in the information required by this subsection shall be reported to the Secretary at the time the reporting labor organization files with the Secretary the annual financial report required by subsection b. The court in such action may, in its discretion, in addition to any judgment awarded to the plaintiff or plaintiffs, allow a reasonable attorney's fee to be paid by the defendant, and costs of the action.
Every such person shall file annually, with respect to each fiscal year during which payments were made as a result of such an agreement or arrangement, a report with the Secretary, signed by its president and treasurer or corresponding principal officers, containing a statement A of its receipts of any kind from employers on account of labor relations advice or services, designating the sources thereof, and B of its disbursements of any kind, in connection with such services and the purposes thereof.
In each such case such information shall be set forth in such categories as the Secretary may prescribe. Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to require any other person to file a report under subsection b unless he was a party to an agreement or arrangement of the kind described therein. Nothing contained in this Act shall be construed to require an attorney who is a member in good standing of the bar of any State, to include in any report required to be filed pursuant to the provisions of this Act any information which was lawfully communicated to such attorney by any of his clients in the course of a legitimate attorney-client relationship.
The Secretary may use the information and data for statistical and research purposes, and compile and publish such studies, analyses, reports, and surveys based thereon as he may deem appropriate. The Secretary shall make available without payment of a charge, or require any person to furnish, to such State agency as is designated by law or by the Governor of the State in which such person has his principal place of business or headquarters, upon request of the Governor of such State, copies of any reports and documents filed by such person with the Secretary pursuant to section , , , or , or of information and data contained therein.
No person shall be required by reason of any law of any State to furnish to any officer or agency of such State any information included in a report filed by such person with the Secretary pursuant to the provisions of this title, if a copy of such report, or of the portion thereof containing such information, is furnished to such officer or agency.
All moneys received in payment of such charges fixed by the Secretary pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited in the general fund of the Treasury. Every person required to file any report under this title shall maintain records on the matters required to be reported which will provide in sufficient detail the necessary basic information and data from which the documents filed with the Secretary may be verified, explained or clarified, and checked for accuracy and completeness, and shall include vouchers, worksheets, receipts, and applicable resolutions, and shall keep such records available for examination for a period of not less than five years after the filing of the documents based on the information which they contain.
The Secretary shall have authority to issue, amend, and rescind rules and regulations prescribing the form and publication of reports required to be filed under this title and such other reasonable rules and regulations including rules prescribing reports concerning trusts in which a labor organization is interested as he may find necessary to prevent the circumvention or evasion of such reporting requirements.
In exercising his power under this section the Secretary shall prescribe by general rule simplified reports for labor organizations or employers for whom he finds that by virtue of their size a detailed report would be unduly burdensome, but the Secretary may revoke such provision for simplified forms of any labor organization or employer if he determines, after such investigation as he deems proper and due notice and opportunity for a hearing, that the purposes of this section would be served thereby.
Whenever it shall appear that any person has violated or is about to violate any of the provisions of this title, the Secretary may bring a civil action for such relief including injunctions as may be appropriate. Any such action may be brought in the district court of the United States where the violation occurred or, at the option of the parties, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Each surety company which issues any bond required by this Act or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of shall file annually with the Secretary, with respect to each fiscal year during which any such bond was in force, a report, in such form and detail as he may prescribe by regulation, filed by the president and treasurer or corresponding principal officers of the surety company, describing its bond experience under each such Act, including information as to the premiums received, total claims paid, amounts recovered by way of subrogation, administrative and legal expenses and such related data and information as the Secretary shall determine to be necessary in the public interest and to carry out the policy of the Act.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the Secretary finds that any such specific information cannot be practicably ascertained or would be uninformative, the Secretary may modify or waive the requirement for such information. The initial report shall also include a full and complete account of the financial condition of such subordinate organization as of the time trusteeship was assumed over it.
During the continuance of a trusteeship the labor organization which has assumed trusteeship over a subordinate labor organization shall file on behalf of the subordinate labor organization the annual financial report required by section b signed by the president and treasurer or corresponding principal officers of the labor organization which has assumed such trusteeship and the trustees of the subordinate labor organization.
Trusteeships shall be established and administered by a labor organization over a subordinate body only in accordance with the constitution and bylaws of the organization which has assumed trusteeship over the subordinate body and for the purpose of correcting corruption or financial malpractice, assuring the performance of collective bargaining agreements or other duties of a bargaining representative, restoring democratic procedures, or otherwise carrying out the legitimate objects of such labor organization.
Any member or subordinate body of a labor organization affected by any violation of this title except section may bring a civil action in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction of the labor organization for such relief including injunctions as may be appropriate.
After the expiration of eighteen months the trusteeship shall be presumed invalid in any such proceeding and its discontinuance shall be decreed unless the labor organization shall show by clear and convincing proof that the continuation of the trusteeship is necessary for a purpose allowable under section In the latter event the court may dismiss the complaint or retain jurisdiction of the cause on such conditions and for such period as it deems appropriate.
The Secretary shall submit to the Congress at the expiration of three years from the date of enactment of this Act a report upon the operation of this title. The rights and remedies provided by this title shall be in addition to any and all other rights and remedies at law or in equity: Provided, That upon the filing of a complaint by the Secretary the jurisdiction of the district court over such trusteeship shall be exclusive and the final judgment shall be res judicata.
Every bona fide candidate shall have the right, once within 30 days prior to an election of a labor organization in which he is a candidate, to inspect a list containing the names and last known addresses of all members of the labor organization who are subject to a collective bargaining agreement requiring membership therein as a condition of employment, which list shall be maintained and kept at the principal office of such labor organization by a designated official thereof. Adequate safeguards to insure a fair election shall be provided, including the right of any candidate to have an observer at the polls and at the counting of the ballots.
Not less than fifteen days prior to the election notice thereof shall be mailed to each member at his last known home address. Each member in good standing shall be entitled to one vote. No member whose dues have been withheld by his employer for payment to such organization pursuant to his voluntary authorization provided for in a collective bargaining agreement shall be declared ineligible to vote or be a candidate for office in such organization by reason of alleged delay or default in the payment of dues.
The votes cast by members of each local labor organization shall be counted, and the results published, separately. The election officials designated in the constitution and bylaws or the secretary, if no other official is designated, shall preserve for one year the ballots and all other records pertaining to the election. The election shall be conducted in accordance with the constitution and bylaws of such organization insofar as they are not inconsistent with the provisions of this title.
The officials designated in the constitution and bylaws or the secretary, if no other is designated, shall preserve for one year the credentials of the delegates and all minutes and other records of the convention pertaining to the election of officers.
Such moneys of a labor organization may be utilized for notices, factual statements of issues not involving candidates, and other expenses necessary for the holding of an election.
The guide includes updated rights and benefits, and relevant changes to these rights and benefits, as letter carriers progress from city carrier assistant to career status. The guide includes chapters on NALC structure, health benefits, pay, uniforms, workroom floor issues, community service, legislation, and much more. The online version contains links throughout the guide which will connect you directly to additional relevant information.
Click here for the online Letter Carrier Resource Guide. It also includes Defenses to Discipline. The July MRS PDF is a prime resource for national business agents, regional administrative assistants, NALC branch officers and shop stewards in their duties of enforcing the collective bargaining agreement.
You can also find key MRS documents here. To find a specific M-numbered document, use the box below. NALC offers a unique, comprehensive arbitration database which allows contract researchers to quickly explore NALC's database of thousands of arbitration awards.
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