Labor-Management Standards Office 2009 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This final rule withdraws a rule published in the Federal Register on January 21, 2009, which revised the Form LM-2, an annual financial report required by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959, as amended (LMRDA), and established standards and procedures by which the Department can revoke, when warranted, the authorization for smaller labor organizations to file the Form LM-3, a less detailed annual financial report also required pursuant to the LMRDA. Upon consideration of the comments received following an April 21, 2009 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), the Department withdraws the January 21 rule. The rule is withdrawn because the revisions it made to the Form LM-2 were issued without an adequate review of the Department's experience under the relatively recent revisions to Form LM-2 in 2003, and because the comments received indicate that the Department may have underestimated the increased burden that the rule would place on reporting labor organizations. Additionally, upon consideration of the comments received, the Department withdraws the provisions of the rule pertaining to the revocation of a small union's authorization to file a Form LM-3 report due to delinquency or deficiency in filing such report, because the revocation standards and procedures are not based upon realistic assessments of such a union's ability to file the more complex Form LM- 2 and thus are unlikely to achieve the intended goals of greater transparency and disclosure. Moreover, the revocation provisions did not adequately balance the need for transparency with the burden placed upon smaller labor organizations.

This Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposes a regulation to implement Executive Order 13496, which was signed by President Barack Obama on January 30, 2009. Executive Order 13496 (``the Executive Order,'' ``the Order,'' or ``EO 13496'') requires nonexempt Federal departments and agencies to include within their Government contracts specific provisions requiring that contractors and subcontractors with whom they do business post notices informing their employees of their rights as employees under Federal labor laws. The Executive Order requires the Secretary (``Secretary'') of the Department of Labor (``Department'') to initiate a rulemaking to prescribe the size, form, and content of the notice that must be posted by a contractor under paragraph 1 of the contract clause described in section 2 of the Order. Under the Executive Order, Federal Government contracting departments and agencies must include the required contract provisions in every Government contract, except for collective bargaining agreements and contracts for purchases under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold, and except in those cases in which the Secretary exempts a contracting department or agency with respect to particular contracts or subcontracts or class of contracts or subcontracts pursuant to section 4 of the Order. As required by the Executive Order, this proposed rule establishes the content of the notice required by the Executive Order's contract clause, and implements other provisions of the Executive Order, including provisions regarding sanctions, penalties, and remedies that may be imposed if the contractor or subcontractor fails to comply with its obligations under the Order and the implementing regulations.