[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 93 (Friday, May 14, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27366-27367]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-11498]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of Labor-Management Standards
OLMS Listens: Office of Labor-Management Standards Stakeholder
Meeting
AGENCY: Office of Labor-Management Standards, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice of Public Meeting.
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SUMMARY: The United States Department of Labor (DOL), Office of Labor-
Management Standards (OLMS) hereby provides notice of a public meeting
on a proposed change to OLMS's regulations regarding reporting
requirements for employers and consultants pursuant to section 203 of
the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA), specifically
with regard to the scope of the ``advice
[[Page 27367]]
exception'' in section 203(c). The meeting will provide an opportunity
for stakeholders and other interested parties to provide individual
comments and suggestions. All interested parties are invited to
participate.
Public Meeting Date and Time: The meeting will be held on Monday,
May 24, 2010, from 10 a.m. until noon.
Location: The site for the May 24th event will be U.S. Department
of Labor, Frances Perkins Building Auditorium, 200 Constitution Avenue,
NW., Washington, DC 20210.
To Register and Obtain Further Information: Please call Rosetta
Kelly at (202) 693-0123 or register via e-mail at [email protected].
If you wish to attend, please register by Monday, May 17, 2010. When
registering, you must provide your name, title, company or organization
(if applicable), address, phone number and e-mail address. Individuals
with disabilities may request accommodations when registering for the
event.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: LMRDA section 203 establishes reporting and
disclosure requirements for employers and persons, including labor
relations consultants, who enter into any agreement or arrangement
whereby the consultant (or other person) undertakes activities to
persuade employees as to their rights to organize and bargain
collectively or to obtain certain information concerning the activities
of employees or a labor organization in connection with a labor dispute
involving the employer. Each party must disclose information concerning
such agreement or arrangement, including related payments, and the
employer, additionally, must disclose certain other payments, including
payments to its own employees, to persuade employees as to their
bargaining rights and to obtain certain information in connection with
a labor dispute.
Pursuant to regulations issued by the Department, an employer must
file a Form LM-10, Employer Report, for each fiscal year in which it
entered into such an agreement or arrangement, as well for each fiscal
year in which it made any persuader payments, as required under section
203. Additionally, the consultant must file a Form LM-20, Agreement and
Activities report, disclosing the agreement or arrangement.
OLMS will seek comments on several significant matters concerning
employer and consultant reporting pursuant to section 203. The first
matter pertains to the so-called ``advice exception'' of LMRDA section
203(c), which provides, in part, that employers and consultants are not
required to file a report by reason of the consultant's giving or
agreeing to give ``advice'' to the employer. Under current policy, as
articulated in the LMRDA Interpretative Manual and in a Federal
Register notice published on April 11, 2001 (66 FR 18864), this so-
called ``advice exception'' has been broadly interpreted to exclude
from the reporting any agreement under which a consultant engages in
activities on behalf of the employer to persuade employees concerning
their bargaining rights but has no direct contact with employees, even
where the consultant is orchestrating a campaign to defeat a union
organizing effort.
The Department views its current policy concerning the scope of the
``advice exception'' as over-broad, and that a narrower construction
will result in reporting that more closely reflects the employer and
consultant reporting intended by the LMRDA. Regulatory action is needed
to provide labor-management transparency for the public, and to provide
workers with information critical to their effective participation in
the workplace. As a result, the Department announced in its Fall 2009
Regulatory Agenda the intention to engage in such rulemaking to narrow
the scope of the ``advice exception.'' See: http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaViewRule?pubId=200910&RIN=1215-AB79.
Another exception to reporting is in section 203(e), which provides
that no ``regular officer, supervisor, or employee of an employer'' is
required to file a report covering services undertaken as a ``regular
officer, supervisor, or employee of an employer.'' Further, the
employer is not required to file a report covering expenditures made to
a ``regular officer, supervisor, or employee'' as compensation for
service as a ``regular officer, supervisor, or employee.'' The
Department will seek comments on the application of this exemption to
the scope of employer reporting under sections 203(a)(2) and (a)(3),
which require employers to report payments to their own employees for
purposes of causing them to persuade other employees as to their
bargaining rights, and to report expenditures to ``interfere with,
restrain, or coerce employees'' in their bargaining rights and to
obtain information concerning activities of employees and labor
organizations in connection with a labor dispute.
Additionally, the Department will seek comments on whether
electronic filing should be mandated for Form LM-10 and LM-20 reports.
Currently, labor organizations that file the Form LM-2 Labor
Organization Annual Report are required by regulation to file
electronically, and there has been good compliance with these
requirements. It is reasonably expected that employers and consultants
will have the information technology resources and capacity to file
electronically, as well. An electronic filing option is planned for all
LMRDA reports as part of an information technology enhancement.
Agenda: The public meeting will run from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on May
24, 2010, at the U.S. Department of Labor, Frances Perkins Building
Auditorium, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210. All
interested parties are invited to participate. The meeting will provide
interested parties an opportunity to provide suggestions and
recommendations to OLMS concerning employer and consultant reporting
pursuant to section 203. In particular, comments will be solicited on
the issues outlined above: The application of the ``advice exemption''
of LMRDA sections 203(c); the application of the ``regular officer,
supervisor, and employee'' exemption of section 203(e); and the effect
of a potential regulatory proposal requiring employers and consultants
to submit reports electronically. The Department will seek comment, as
well, regarding the layout of the Form LM-10 and LM-20 and the level of
detail and itemization currently required to be reported on these
forms. Finally, the Department invites information about how the use of
labor relations consultants by employers has affected labor-management
relations and about how persuader activity has changed since the
enactment of the LMRDA.
Public Participation: Registration for the public meeting is free.
During the meeting, participants will be invited to come up to a
microphone and provide comments on the topic being discussed.
Authority and Signature:
Signed in Washington, DC, May 10, 2010.
John Lund,
Director, Office of Labor-Management Standards.
[FR Doc. 2010-11498 Filed 5-13-10; 8:45 am]
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