Notice2024-22805
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request; Labor Organization and Auxiliary Reports
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 3, 2024
Issuing agencies
Labor Department
Abstract
In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the DOL is soliciting public comments regarding the proposal to amend the currently approved information collection request under OMB Control Number 1245-0003, specifically its proposal to revise the Form LM-10 Employer Report, and the Forms LM-20 and 21 filed by labor relations consultants, and their corresponding instructions, to require employers and their consultants to provide the Employment Identification Number (EIN) of the filer and other parties to the agreement for the performance of covered activities under Section 203 of the Labor-- Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Additionally, the Department proposes to revise the Form LM-20 and its instructions to require primary consultants to provide the EIN for sub-consultants who performed covered activities under any part of the agreement and for sub-consultants to provide EIN and a mailing address for the primary consultants for whom they are performing services pursuant to the agreement. The Department also seeks to require each filer to provide the email addresses of the corresponding parties to the agreement that triggered the reporting requirement (underlying agreement). The email addresses will not appear on the submitted forms or otherwise be publicly available, but OLMS will seek to use the email addresses to ensure compliance. Finally, the Department proposes a technical revision to the Form LM-1 instructions, Item 9, to match the corresponding item on the form.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 192 (Thursday, October 3, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 192 (Thursday, October 3, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80605-80607]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-22805]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission for OMB
Review; Comment Request; Labor Organization and Auxiliary Reports
AGENCY: Office of Labor-Management Standards, Department of Labor.
ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA),
the DOL is soliciting public comments regarding the proposal to amend
the currently approved information collection request under OMB Control
Number 1245-0003, specifically its proposal to revise the Form LM-10
Employer Report, and the Forms LM-20 and 21 filed by labor relations
consultants, and their corresponding instructions, to require employers
and their consultants to provide the Employment Identification Number
(EIN) of the filer and other parties to the agreement for the
performance of covered activities under Section 203 of the Labor--
Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Additionally, the
Department proposes to revise the Form LM-20 and its instructions to
require primary consultants to provide the EIN for sub-consultants who
performed covered activities under any part of the agreement and for
sub-consultants to provide EIN and a mailing address for the primary
consultants for whom they are performing services pursuant to the
agreement. The Department also seeks to require each filer to provide
the email addresses of the corresponding parties to the agreement that
triggered the reporting requirement (underlying agreement). The email
addresses will not appear on the submitted forms or otherwise be
publicly available, but OLMS will seek to use the email
[[Page 80606]]
addresses to ensure compliance. Finally, the Department proposes a
technical revision to the Form LM-1 instructions, Item 9, to match the
corresponding item on the form.
DATES: The OMB will consider all written comments that the agency
receives on or before December 2, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent within 60 days of publication of
this notice to <a href="http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain">www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain</a>. Find this particular
information collection by selecting ``Currently under 60-day Review--
Open for Public Comments'' or by using the search function.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Torre, Chief of the Division of
Interpretations and Regulations, Office of Labor-Management Standards,
U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW, Room N-5609,
Washington, DC 20210, by telephone at (202) 693-0123 (this is not a
toll-free number), (800) 877-8339 (TTY/TDD), or by email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#701f1c1d035d0005121c191330141f1c5e171f06"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e38c8f8e90ce9396818f8a80a3878c8fcd848c95">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Secretary of Labor administers and
enforces provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure
Act of 1959, as amended, Public Law 86-257, 73 Stat. 519-546, codified
at 29 U.S.C. 401-531. The LMRDA, in part, establishes labor-management
transparency through reporting and disclosure requirements for labor
organizations and officials, employers, labor relations consultants,
and surety companies. Section 203(a) of the LMRDA imposes reporting
requirements on employers who enter into specified financial
transactions or arrangements with a labor union, union official,
employee, or labor relations consultant. 29 U.S.C. 433(a). Section
203(b) of the LMRDA additionally requires public disclosure of certain
agreements or arrangements between any person, including labor
relations consultants and other individuals and organizations, to
undertake certain activities concerning employees or labor
organizations. 29 U.S.C. 433(b). Under LMRDA section 208, the Secretary
of Labor is authorized to issue, amend, and rescind rules and
regulations prescribing the form and publication of required reports,
as well as ``such other reasonable rules and regulations . . . as [s]he
may find necessary to prevent the circumvention or evasion of such
reporting requirements.'' 29 U.S.C. 438. The Secretary published the
Form LM-10 ``Employer Report'' for employers, and the Form LM-20
``Agreement and Activities Report'' and Form LM-21 ``Receipts and
Disbursements Report'' for labor relations consultants.
The Department seeks to amend the Form LM-10, Form LM-20, and Form
LM-21 to supplement the identifying information OLMS already collects
from employers and consultants. On Form LM-10, the Department seeks to
revise Item 3 to include the EIN of the employer and to revise Item 9.d
to include the EIN for each of the consultants. On Form LM-20, the
Department seeks to revise Item 2 to include the EIN of the consultant
filing and Item 6 to include the EIN for the employer. On Form LM-21,
the Department seeks to revise Item 3 to include the EIN of the
consultant filing, Item 5a and Item 15a to include the EIN of the
employer with which the consultant entered into an agreement, and Item
15c to include the EIN of the individual to whom any disbursement was
made. An EIN uniquely identifies each employer or consultant, and its
inclusion on the Form LM-10, Form LM-20, and Form LM-21 would avoid
confusion and allow the public and employees to confirm the identity of
filers and consultants more easily. This revision will also improve the
efficiency of OLMS operations, as OLMS will be able to use the unique
EIN number to differentiate existing filers from new filers, and
crossmatch employer and consultant reports more effectively. If a
consultant does not have an EIN, OLMS would require that the filing
employer or other consultant identify the consultant by providing the
consultant's LM file number, if it already had obtained one. In all
situations, OLMS would require the filer to provide its email address
and the email addresses for the other parties to the underlying
agreement. While the email addresses would not appear on the submitted
form, OLMS would be able to use the email addresses to contact parties
to ensure compliance.
The Department also seeks to amend the Form LM-20 to differentiate
requirements for primary consultants and sub-consultants to the
underlying employer-consultant agreement. These revisions to the Form
LM-20 would require primary consultants to disclose whether any
individuals through whom an employer-consultant agreement was performed
is a sub-consultant and to provide the name and EIN of that sub-
consultant in Item 11.d, as well as require sub-consultants to provide
the name, EIN, and mailing address of the primary consultant the sub-
consultant entered into agreement within Item 8. These revisions would
help avoid confusion and allow the public and employees to confirm the
identity of filers and consultants more easily, as well as provide
greater efficiency to OLMS for cross-matching employer and consultant
reports.
These revisions neither change which employers or consultants are
required to file Form LM-10, Form LM-20, and Form LM-21 reports, nor
change the frequency with which any of the parties must file. The
Department estimates that these revisions would add an additional five
minutes of reporting burden for each of the Forms LM-10 and LM-21, and
eight additional minutes for the Form LM-20, and would not affect the
recordkeeping burden, since filers would already retain this
information. The Department made this burden determination for the
following reasons. Most employers and consultants already have access
to their own EIN and will spend little to no time filling out this
information. Many employers and consultants will also have little
difficulty obtaining the EIN of other parties they work with and will
spend little to no time filling out this information. Those employers
and consultants that do not have access to their own EIN or the EIN of
a party they are in an underlying agreement with can generally solve
the problem relatively quickly by requesting the EIN, which will not
cause a heavy burden. As such, the Department does not consider this a
significant burden on any party filling out these forms. The Department
estimates these revisions will result in a reporting burden increase of
3,235 minutes for Form LM-10, 5,338 minutes for Form LM-20, and 485
minutes for Form LM-21. This results in a total increase of 9,058
burden minutes, or 150.97 burden hours.
The Department also seeks to amend the instructions for Form LM-1
to more accurately reflect the Form. The instructions for Item 9 will
be updated to ask the filer for the name, title, organization, and
address for any place other than the labor organization's mailing
address where records necessary to verify the report are kept. This is
a technical correction and will have no impact on the burden for any
filers.
The Department is seeking comment on the collection of the EIN on
Forms LM-10, LM-20, and LM-21, as well as revisions to Form LM-20 to
differentiate between primary consultants and sub-consultants to the
employer-consultant agreement, which would additionally require the
disclosure of EIN for those sub-consultants. The Department is seeking
comments on the necessity of these revisions for the performance of
OLMS, the accuracy of the estimated reporting burden, and any methods
by
[[Page 80607]]
which OLMS could continue to minimize the burden of collecting
information. The Department is also seeking comments on handling
instances when a consultant or employer does not provide or does not
have an EIN or a file number given by OLMS.
If finalized after notice-and-comment, this ICR revision would
require employers and labor relations consultants to file their
reports, with the required EIN information, upon OIRA approval and
necessary revisions to the electronic filing system.
As this proposed form revision requires a revision to an existing
information collection, the Department is submitting, contemporaneous
with the publication of the document, an ICR to amend the burden
estimates under OMB Control Number 1245-0003 and revise the PRA
clearance to address the clearance term. A copy of this ICR, with
applicable supporting documentation, including among other items a
description of the likely respondents, proposed frequency of response,
and estimated total burden, may be obtained free of charge from the
<a href="http://RegInfo.gov">RegInfo.gov</a> website at: <a href="https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAOMBHistory?ombControlNumber=1245-0003">https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAOMBHistory?ombControlNumber=1245-0003</a> (this link will be updated
following publication of this proposal) or from the Department by
contacting OLMS at 202-693-0123 (this is not a toll free number)/email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="ca85868799e79abfa8a6a3a98aaea5a6e4ada5bc">[email protected]</a>.
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be considered,
summarized, and/or included in the ICR the Department will submit to
the Office of Management and Budget for approval of the information
collection request; they will also become a matter of public record.
Commenters are encouraged not to submit sensitive information (e.g.,
confidential business information or personally identifiable
information such as a social security number).
Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the
Department, including whether the information will have practical
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimates of the burden and
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality,
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
This information collection is subject to the PRA. A Federal agency
generally cannot conduct or sponsor a collection of information, and
the public is generally not required to respond to an information
collection, unless the OMB approves it and displays a currently valid
OMB Control Number. In addition, notwithstanding any other provisions
of law, no person shall generally be subject to penalty for failing to
comply with a collection of information that does not display a valid
OMB Control Number. See 5 CFR 1320.5(a) and 1320.6.
DOL seeks PRA authorization for this information collection for
three (3) years. OMB authorization for an ICR cannot be for more than
three (3) years without renewal. The DOL notes that information
collection requirements submitted to the OMB for existing ICRs receive
a month-to-month extension while they undergo review.
Agency: Department of Labor, Office of Labor-Management Standards.
Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
Title of Collection: Labor Organization and Auxiliary Reports.
OMB Control Number: 1245-0003.
Forms: LM-1--Labor Organization Information Report, LM-2, LM-3, LM-
4--Labor Organization Annual Report, Simplified Annual Report, LM-10--
Employer Report, LM-15--Trusteeship Report, LM-15A--Report on Selection
of Delegates and Officers, LM-16--Terminal Trusteeship Report, LM-20--
Agreement and Activities Report, LM-21--Receipts and Disbursements
Report, LM-30--Labor Organization Officer and Employee Report, S-1--
Surety Company Annual Report.
Affected Public: Private Sector--Business or other for-profits and
not-for-profit institutions.
Total Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 32,791.
Total Estimated Number of Responses: 35,067.
Frequency: Varies.
Total Estimated Annual Time Burden: 4,644,740 hours.
Total Estimated Annual Other Costs Burden: $0.
(Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A))
Dated: September 27, 2024.
Jeffrey Freund,
Director, Office of Labor-Management Standards.
[FR Doc. 2024-22805 Filed 10-2-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4510-86-P
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