U.S. Department of Labor U.S. Department of Labor Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)

U.S. Department of LaborU.S. Department of LaborOffice of Labor-Management Standards

(OLMS)

Introduction

U.S. Department of Labor - OLMS

233 Cumberland Bend Dr. Suite 110

Nashville, TN 37228Telephone (615) 736-5906

Office of Labor-Management Standards

●The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), is an agency within the Employment Standards Administration, U. S. Department of Labor.

● The Secretary of Labor has authority over all agencies within the Department of Labor, including OLMS.

● OLMS is under the direction of the Deputy Assistant Secretary, who is appointed by the Secretary of Labor.


● OLMS has five divisions in the national office including –

– Division of Enforcement

– Division of Reports Disclosure and Audit

– Division of Interpretations and Standards

– Division of International Union Audits

– Division of Statutory Programs


● OLMS has 5 regional field offices and 20 district field offices.

– Atlantic Regional Office

– Ohio-Potomac Regional Office

– Great Lakes Regional Office

– Gulf Coast Regional Office

– Pacific Regional Office

OLMS Online

http://www.olms.dol.gov


● OLMS is responsible for –

– Administering certain provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, and

– Administering provisions of the Civil Service Reform Act, the Government Accountability Act and the Foreign Service Act relating to standards of conduct for federal employee unions.


● The LMRDA was enacted by Congress primarily to ensure basic standards of

democracy and fiscal responsibility in labor organizations representing employees in private industry.


OLMS performs four types of activities:

● Public Disclosure of Reports

Unions must file an annual financial report with OLMS each year.

Employers, labor relations consultants, union officers and employees, and

surety companies are required to file under certain circumstances.

Most reports are available on-line and can be accessed through the following

website:

www.union-reports.dol.gov


● Compliance Audits

The Compliance Audit Program (CAP) is a streamlined audit approach to audit local unions to verify LMRDA

compliance.

I-CAP is a companion program to audit national and international unions.

CAP and I-CAP allow OLMS to provide compliance assistance to union officials

to help them correct problems detected during the audit and to help prevent future

violations.


● Investigations

OLMS conducts investigations to determine if violations of the LMRDA have occurred.

Investigations are initiated based on various sources such as

● complaints from union members

● information developed by OLMS as a result of reviewing reports filed

● information developed during an OLMS audit of a union’s books and records

● information obtained from other government agencies.


● Investigations

Investigations may involve civil matters such as election of union officers or criminal

matters such as embezzlement of union funds.


● Education and Compliance Assistance

OLMS has an active program to promote voluntary compliance with the LMRDA by informing union officers and others affected by the law of their responsibilities and by encouraging members to exercise their rights under the LMRDA.


● Education and Compliance Assistance

OLMS conducts many educational activities, ranging from one-on-one meetings with union officers to statewide seminars for hundreds of union officials.

Assistance is also provided to meet the special needs of union members, employers, consultants, and the general public.


OLMS –

● Publishes and distributes explanatory pamphlets which emphasize voluntary compliance with the LMRDA

● Conducts seminars and workshops about the law in general and about specific areas such as election procedures or completion of reporting forms

● Works with international union officials to correct or prevent LMRDA violations by its affiliates

● Participates in union conventions by providing displays, giving speeches, taking part in panel discussions, and conducting workshops for those attending


● Compliance Assistance pamphlets and other material are available on the following website:

http://www.olms.dol.gov



The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of

1959 (LMRDA)

The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA)

● The LMRDA grants certain rights to union members and protects their interests by

promoting democratic procedures within labor organizations.


● The Act establishes -

– A Bill of Rights for union members

– Reporting requirements for labor organizations, union officers and employees, employers, labor-relations consultants, and surety companies

– Standards for the regular election of union officers

– Safeguards for protecting labor organization funds and assets


● Unions representing U. S. Postal Service employees are covered by the LMRDA as the result of the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970.

● Unions representing Federal employees are covered by the implementing regulations of the standards of conduct provisions of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978.


● Unions representing solely state, county, and municipal employees are not covered by the LMRDA except intermediate bodies are

covered if they are subordinate to a covered national or international labor organization.

Title I – Bill of Rights of Union Members

● Union members have equal rights to -

– Nominate candidates for union office

– Vote in union elections

– Participate in union meetings

– Meet with other members and express any opinions


● Unions may impose assessments and raise dues only by democratic procedures.

● Unions must afford members a full and fair hearing of charges against them.


● Unions must inform their members about provisions of the LMRDA.

● Union members and nonunion employees have the right to receive or to inspect

collective bargaining agreements.

Title II – Reporting Requirements

● Unions must file information reports, constitutions and bylaws, and annual financial reports with OLMS

– Information Report, Form LM-1

● Must be filed within 90 days after becoming subject to the Act

– Annual Financial Reports, Forms LM-2/3/4

● Must be filed within 90 days after the end of the union’s fiscal year

● Officers and employees of labor unions must report any loans and benefits received from, or certain financial interests in, employers whose employees their union

represents and businesses that deal with their union.

– Union Officer and Employee Report, Form LM-30● Must be filed within 90 days after

the close of the fiscal year of the person filing the report



● Employers and labor-relations consultants who engage in certain activities to persuade employees about their union activities or to supply information to the employer must file reports.

– Employer Report, Form LM-10● Must be filed within 90 days after the close of the company’s fiscal year● Must be signed by the president and treasurer or corresponding principal officers


● Agreement and Activities Report, Form LM- 20

– Filed by any person who, as a direct or indirect party to any agreement or

arrangement with an employer, undertakes any activities to persuade

employees to exercise or not to exercise, or as to the manner of exercising, the right to organize and bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing.


● Agreement and Activities Report, Form LM-20

– The report must be filed within 30 days after entering into such agreement or arrangement.

– The persons responsible for signing the report are the president and treasurer or corresponding principal officers, or if self-employed, the individual performing the activities.

– Each individual required to sign the report is personally responsible for the filing and for

any statement contained therein which he or she knows to be false.


● Receipts and Disbursements Report, Form LM- 21

– The report is required to be filed by any person who files an Agreement and Activities Report, Form LM-20, if any payments were made or received during the fiscal year as a result of such agreement or arrangement requiring an LM-20.


● Receipts and Disbursements Report, Form LM- 21

– The LM-21 Report must be filed within 90 days after the end of the person’s fiscal year.

– The LM-21 must be signed by the president and treasurer or corresponding principal officers of the firm, or is self-employed, by

the individual performing the activities.


● The reports and documents filed with OLMS are public information and any person mayexamine them or obtain copies at OLMS offices.

● Union annual financial reports, employer and consultant reports, and union officer and employee reports are also available for review and/or copying through the OLMS website:

http://union-reports.dol.gov


● Filers must retain the records necessary to verify the reports for a period of five years from the date the LM Report is filed.

● Unions must make reports available to members and permit members to examine records for just cause.

Title III – Trusteeships

● A trusteeship is defined as “any receivership, trusteeship, or other method of supervision or control whereby a labor organization suspends the autonomy otherwise available to a subordinate body under its constitution and bylaws.”


● A trusteeship may only be imposed for the purposes specified in the LMRDA and must be established and administered in accordance with the constitution and bylaws of the labor organization which has imposed the trusteeship.


● Trusteeships may be established for the following allowable purposes:

– correcting corruption or financial malpractice– assuring the performance of collective bargaining agreements– restoring democratic procedures– otherwise carrying out the legitimate objects

of the union


● A parent body which places a subordinate body under trusteeship must file initial, semiannual, and terminal trusteeship reports.

– Trusteeship Report, Form LM-15– Report on Selection of Delegates and Officers,

Form LM-15A– Terminal Trusteeship Report, Form LM-16


●Trusteeship Report, Form LM-15

– The initial LM-15 Report must be filed by the parent union within 30 days after

imposing the trusteeship over a subordinate body.

– The parent body is responsible for filing a semiannual report, on Form LM-15, within 30 days after the end of each six month period for the duration of the trusteeship.


● Terminal Trusteeship Report, Form LM-16

– The parent body must file a Form LM-16 within 90 days after the termination of the trusteeship.

– The LM-16 Report must disclose the following information:

● The date and method of terminating the trusteeship

● The names, titles, and method of selecting the subordinate union’s officers


● Report on Selection of Delegates and Officers, Form LM-15A

– The LM-15A Report must be filed with the initial, semiannual, or terminal trusteeship report if, during the period covered by the report, there was any

• Convention or other policy-determining body to which the subordinate union sent delegates or would have sent delegates if not in trusteeship, or

• Election of officers of the union which imposed the trusteeship


● A parent body that imposes a trusteeship may not engage in specified acts involving the funds and delegate votes from a trusteed union.

Title IV – Election of Officers

● Sets minimum requirements a labor union must follow including the maximum amount of time between elections

● Establishes members’ rights to be a candidate for office and vote in elections, subject to reasonable rules uniformly imposed

Title IV – Election of Officers

● Includes procedures a member must follow to file a protest of the election with the union and the Secretary of Labor

Title V – Safeguards for Labor Organizations

● Officers have a duty to manage the funds and property of the union solely for the

benefit of the union in accordance with its constitution and bylaws.


● A union officer or employee who embezzles or otherwise misappropriates union funds or other assets commits a Federal crime punishable by a fine and/or imprisonment.


● Officials who handle union funds or property must be bonded to provide protection against losses.

● A union may not have outstanding loans to any one officer or employee that in total exceeds $2,000.


● Persons convicted of certain crimes may not hold union office or employment for up to 13 years after conviction or after the end of imprisonment.

Title VI – Miscellaneous Provisions

● Authority is granted to the Secretary of Labor to investigate possible violations of most provisions of the LMRDA and to enter premises, examine records and question persons in the course of the investigation.

● A union or any of its officials may not fine, suspend, expel, or otherwise discipline a member for exercise of rights under the

LMRDA.


● No one may use or threaten to use force or violence to interfere with a union member in the exercise of LMRDA rights.



The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of

1959 (LMRDA)

Documents

U.S. Department of Labor U.S. Department of Labor Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)