[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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