The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is considering raising the threshold at which unions have to publicly disclose detailed financial information.
Under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, also known as the Landrum-Griffin Act, unions have to file what are known as LM forms with the department every year listing how many members they have, their annual revenue, and how much dues are. The smallest unions file simple one-page forms known as LM-3s or LM-4s, while those with more than $250,000 a year in revenue (most unions) file the LM-2, which discloses the names of officers and employees and how much they are paid, the value of union assets, and much more.
Last July the DOL proposed to raise the LM-2 threshold to $450,000 to keep up with inflation and reduce the burden on small unions of filing the more detailed forms. The government estimates that on average it takes 530 hours for union staff or officers to collect the necessary records and 88 hours to prepare the form. Unions often hire outside accountants to help.
Under the new threshold, DOL estimates that 868 labor organizations would be relieved of having to file the LM-2. It would be only the fifth time since 1959 that the LM-2 threshold would be raised; the last time was 2003.
There’s no official timeline for the DOL to finalize the rule change. Department staff are reviewing public comments on the proposed rule, and the DOL is taking public comment through April 24.
