DOL Wants Employers To Report Money Spent On Internal Supervisors, Others Who Persuade Employees Against Unions
The Biden administration wants to make it as burdensome as possible for employers to talk to their employees about unions.
By Peter List, Editor | July 17, 2024
The Department of Labor’s Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) is proposing to make it much more burdensome for employers who oppose unionization.
Under the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) of 1959, which OLMS enforces, employers have long been required to report any money spent on consultants hired to “persuade” employees in the exercise of their [NLRA] Section Seven Rights.
The forms employers file—known as LM10—must be filed within 90 days following the close of the employer’s fiscal year.
Likewise, the consultants who employers hire to persuade employees are required to file two forms with the OLMS: One is filed within 30 days of being hired and is called an LM20; the other is filed within 90 days of the end of the consultant’s fiscal year and provides the amounts of all money received from employers.
Now, however, the OLMS wants employers to provide the amount of money paid to their own employees—namely, supervisors, managers, and HR personnel—who engage in “reportable” activities.
As of now, employer personnel would not be required to file LM20 or LM21 forms.
According to an OLMS spokesperson via email, as stated in the Spring 2024 regulatory agenda’s Form LM-10 split-income entry, the proposed rulemaking would concern the Form LM-10 Employer Report, not the Form LM-20 or Form LM-21 consultant reports.
Here is the text of the proposed rule:
OLMS intends to explore the scope of split-income reporting on the Form LM-10 Employer Report, pursuant to section 203 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Under split-income reporting, the employer would be required to report, for example, its supervisors' income on a split basis, that is, the pro rata share of the supervisor’s wages that were spent undertaking the reportable activity. [Emphasis added.]
If adopted, while the OLMS proposal will be much more burdensome for employers—large and small alike—it may have a significant impact on larger employers who supplement their human resources departments with “jump teams” of managers and supervisors to assist with “hot spot” locations where there could be union activity.
Although the proposed rule is not yet in effect, if it gets adopted, as with other provisions of the LMRDA, employers who willfully ignore it could be subject to criminal charges.
h/t: Labor Relations Institute.
