80 FR 29096 - Information Collection Request; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of Labor-Management Standards

Federal Register Volume 80, Issue 97 (May 20, 2015)

The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden (time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Office of Labor- Management Standards (OLMS) of the Department of Labor (Department) is soliciting comments concerning the proposal to amend the information collection request 1245-0003, as well as the Form LM-2, LM-3, and LM-4 Labor Organization Annual Report instructions to require filers of such reports to submit the reports electronically, as well as modify the hardship exemption process for Form LM-2 filers. A copy of the proposed information collection request can be obtained by contacting the office listed below in the addresses section of this Notice.

[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 97 (Wednesday, May 20, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29096-29099]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2015-12272]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Office of Labor-Management Standards


Information Collection Request; Comment Request

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Labor, as part of its continuing effort to 
reduce paperwork and respondent burden, conducts a preclearance 
consultation program to provide the general public and Federal agencies 
with an opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing 
collections of information in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995

[[Page 29097]]

(PRA95) [44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)]. This program helps to ensure that 
requested data can be provided in the desired format, reporting burden 
(time and financial resources) is minimized, collection instruments are 
clearly understood, and the impact of collection requirements on 
respondents can be properly assessed. Currently, the Office of Labor-
Management Standards (OLMS) of the Department of Labor (Department) is 
soliciting comments concerning the proposal to amend the information 
collection request 1245-0003, as well as the Form LM-2, LM-3, and LM-4 
Labor Organization Annual Report instructions to require filers of such 
reports to submit the reports electronically, as well as modify the 
hardship exemption process for Form LM-2 filers. A copy of the proposed 
information collection request can be obtained by contacting the office 
listed below in the addresses section of this Notice.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the office listed in the 
addresses section below on or before July 20, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Andrew R. Davis, Chief of the Division of Interpretations 
and Standards, Office of Labor-Management Standards, U.S. Department of 
Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue NW., Room N-5609, Washington, DC 20210, 
[email protected], (202) 693-0123 (this is not a toll-free number), 
(800) 877-8339 (TTY/TDD).
    Please use only one method of transmission (mail or submission via 
www.regulations.gov using RIN: 1245-AA06) to submit comments or to 
request a copy of this information collection and its supporting 
documentation; including a description of the likely respondents, 
proposed frequency of response, and estimated total burden. You may 
also request a copy of this information collection and its supporting 
documentation by sending an email to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Congress enacted the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act 
of 1959, as amended (LMRDA), to provide for the disclosure of 
information on the financial transactions and administrative practices 
of labor organizations. The statute also provides, under certain 
circumstances, for reporting by labor organization officers and 
employees, employers, labor relations consultants, and surety 
companies. Section 208 of the LMRDA authorizes the Secretary to issue 
rules and regulations prescribing the form of the required reports. The 
reporting provisions were devised to implement a basic tenet of the 
LMRDA: The guarantee of democratic procedures and safeguards within 
labor organizations, which are designed to protect the basic rights of 
union members.
    Pursuant to section 201 of the LMRDA, the Department established 
annual financial disclosure reports: the Form LM-2, LM-3, and LM-4. 
These reports detail the receipts, disbursements, assets, and 
liabilities of covered labor organizations during their previous fiscal 
year. The Form LM-2 is the most detailed report, for those labor 
organizations with $250,000 or more in total annual receipts. The Form 
LM-3 is available for those labor organizations with fewer than 
$250,000 in total annual receipts, and the Form LM-4 is available for 
those labor organizations with fewer than $10,000 in total annual 
receipts.\1\
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    \1\ Pursuant to LMRDA Titles II and III, the Department also 
established nine other reporting and disclosure forms: The Form LM-1 
Information Report; Form LM-10 Employer Report; Forms LM-15, 15-A, 
and 16 trusteeship reports; Form LM-20 Agreement and Activities 
Report; Form LM-21 Receipts and Disbursement Report; Form LM-30 
Officer and Employee Report; and Form S-1 Surety Report.
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    Section 205 of the LMRDA provides that the reports are public 
information. Filers submit the reports to the Department's Office of 
Labor-Management Standards (OLMS), pursuant to the OLMS Information 
Collection Request (ICR), OMB # 1245-0003 (Form LM-1, LM-2, LM-3, LM-4, 
Simplified Annual Report, LM-10, LM-15, LM-15A, LM-16, LM-20, LM-21, 
LM-30, and S-1). Currently, filers can submit the Forms LM-2, LM-3, LM-
4, and LM-30 electronically through the OLMS free and web-based 
Electronic Forms System (EFS).\2\ EFS does not rely on third-party 
software or require the purchase of digital signatures; instead, EFS is 
a secure, web-based system that uses electronic signatures, which the 
filing organization's two principal officers register for, along with 
the union, obtaining a personal identification number (PIN) each year. 
However, only Form LM-2 filers are currently required to use EFS, 
although the Form LM-2 instructions provide a temporary and continuing 
hardship exemption process. Form LM-3 and LM-4 filers, as well as Form 
LM-30 filers, can choose instead to print off the completed form, sign 
manually, and mail the form to OLMS.
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    \2\ In May 2011, EFS first became available for LM-3 and LM-4 
filers, and those unions with fiscal years ending after June 30, 
2011 began to take advantage of electronic filing. Prior to this 
implementation of EFS, few Form LM-3 and LM-4 unions utilized EFS, 
since they would be required to purchase a digital signature. As 
stated, EFS is free of charge.
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    In response to requests from union members, the media, members of 
Congress, and other interested parties for Internet access to reports 
filed by unions under the LMRDA, OLMS developed a Web site (http://www.union-reports.dol.gov) where individuals may now view union annual 
financial reports and conduct data searches, displaying the results in 
a number of preformatted listings, free of charge. OLMS can 
instantaneously post reports submitted via EFS. Reports submitted via 
mail must be scanned and then posted, with certain data manually 
entered.

Authority

    The legal authority for this notice is set forth in 35 U.S.C. 
3506(c)(2), and sections 203 and 208 of the LMRDA, 29 U.S.C. 432, 438. 
Section 208 of the LMRDA provides that the Secretary of Labor shall 
have authority to issue, amend, and rescind rules and regulations 
prescribing the form and publication of reports required to be filed 
under Title II of the Act and such other reasonable rules and 
regulations as he may find necessary to prevent the circumvention or 
evasion of the reporting requirements. 29 U.S.C. 438. The Secretary has 
delegated his authority under the LMRDA to the Director of the Office 
of Labor-Management Standards and permits re-delegation of such 
authority. See Secretary's Order 8-2009, 74 FR 58835 (Nov. 13, 2009).

Mandatory Electronic Filing of the Forms LM-3 and LM-4

    The Department seeks to amend ICR 1245-0003, as well as the Forms 
LM-3 and LM-4 instructions, to require mandatory electronic filing of 
these reports, as well as modify the Form LM-2 hardship exemption 
process to correspond with that proposed for the Form LM-3 and LM-4 
reports, which would only permit temporary hardship exemption 
submissions, not continuing. The Department believes that reasonable 
changes must be made to the means by which the forms required under 
LMRDA Title II are filed. The most efficient way to provide meaningful 
access to this information by interested members of the public is to 
require that the reports filed by small and medium-sized labor 
organizations be filed in electronic form. This change will benefit the 
filers, union members, and the public, as well as the Department.
    First, EFS provides significant advantages for filers. Electronic 
forms

[[Page 29098]]

can significantly reduce the burden for filing the Forms LM-3 and LM-4, 
because they pre-populate a significant amount of informational items 
and are more efficient for reporting entities. Further, EFS provides 
error-checking functionality, as well as online, context-sensitive 
help, which improves the completeness of the reporting. Moreover, a 
filer can easily acquire a PIN and password and submit the report, free 
of charge, removing the burden of printing, manually reviewing and 
signing, and then mailing. As detailed in its last ICR renewal for OMB 
#1245-0003, Form LM-3 filers will experience a reporting burden hour 
reduction from an estimated 52 hours to 38.74 hours. With the existing, 
unchanged 64 recordkeeping burden hours, the total hour burden to 
complete the Form LM-3 is estimated to be 102.74 hours, a reduction 
from the previous total of 116 hours. The estimated number of 
respondents per filer is unchanged, as the proposed changes only affect 
the method of filing, not the universe of filers. Most labor unions 
have the information technology resources and capacity to file 
electronically. Indeed, although no specific data exists regarding the 
extent to which unions have already embraced the technology necessary 
to provide reports in electronic form, in 2014, approximately 40% of 
Form LM-3 unions and 37% of Form LM-4 unions filed their reports 
electronically. In any event, the Department has also proposed a 
process for a temporary hardship exemption, whereby filers may apply to 
temporarily submit paper forms, permitting additional time to complete 
the report electronically.
    Second, EFS offers numerous benefits for the public. In contrast to 
the efficiency of e-filing, paper reports must be scanned and processed 
for data entry before they can be posted online for disclosure, which 
delays their availability for public review. Mandatory e-filing would 
therefore result in more immediate availability of the reports on the 
OLMS public disclosure Web site, and improve the efficiency of OLMS in 
processing the reports and in reviewing them for reporting compliance. 
Mandatory e-filing will also improve accessibility to the LM-3 and LM-4 
forms for people with disabilities. Under Section 508 of the 
Rehabilitation Act, federal agencies must ensure that members of the 
public who are disabled and who are seeking information or services 
from a Federal agency ``have access to and use of information and data 
that is comparable to the access to and use of the information and data 
by such members of the public who are not individuals with 
disabilities.'' \3\ Mandating electronic filing of the Forms LM-3 and 
LM-4 will help ensure that people with disabilities have access to 
those forms. Currently, hardcopy submissions of the Forms LM-3 and LM-4 
must be scanned and converted to PDF format for posting on the OLMS 
public disclosure Web site. The scanned reports, which often contain 
hand-written entries and signatures, would then have to be further 
processed in order to be made Section 508 compliant. Considering the 
thousands of reports that are submitted manually every year, the 
process to make these reports fully accessible would be extremely time-
consuming and resource-intensive. Forms filed electronically will be 
easier and less costly to convert into a format that is accessible to 
people with disabilities and will facilitate compliance with Section 
508.
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    \3\ See 29 U.S.C. 794d(1)(A)(ii).
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    Third, mandatory e-filing will save the Department resources. 
Currently, only the Form LM-2 must be submitted to OLMS electronically, 
and there has been good compliance with this submission requirement. 
Requiring Form LM-3 and LM-4 reports to be filed electronically using a 
web-based system provided by OLMS and making the submitted reports 
available on the Web site will decrease the number of requests for 
reports that must be handled manually, freeing OLMS staff for other 
compliance assistance and enforcement work. Furthermore, electronic 
filing of Form LM-3 and LM-4 reports will enable OLMS to more 
efficiently sort, review, and analyze data that can be used more 
effectively for enforcement and compliance assistance purposes.

Overview of Revised Form LM-3 and LM-4 Instructions

    Section IV (How to File), Form LM-2 and Form LM-3 Section XI 
(Completing Form LM-2 or LM-3), and Form LM-4 Section IX (Completing 
Form LM-4): The instructions in these sections will change to implement 
mandatory electronic filing. Mandatory electronic filing will minimize 
the burdens for unions that file the Forms LM-3 or LM-4, and increase 
efficiency for the Department of Labor as it processes the reports and 
makes the reports available to union members and the public. The web-
based software will pre-populate certain data, perform many 
calculations, and help ensure the accuracy and completeness of the 
forms. A union will be permitted to file a paper format Form LM-3 or 
LM-4, however, if it claims a temporary hardship exemption. Such 
process will enable the filer to submit a paper report by the required 
due date, with an electronic report submitted within ten business days 
after their required due date. The hardship exemption procedures are 
modeled after the existing procedures used by Form LM-2 filers, 
although the Department proposes just a temporary hardship exemption, 
not a continuing hardship exemption, as Form LM-2 filers have utilized. 
The Department notes that the continuing hardship exemption process 
derives from the Department's initial electronic filing system, which 
was not web-based and required the purchase of a digital signature. The 
creation of EFS eliminated the problems and costs associated with the 
prior system, and the Department therefore does not consider the 
continuing hardship exemption portion of the process to be necessary. 
The Department therefore also proposes an amendment to the Form LM-2 
instructions, eliminating the continuing portion of the hardship 
exemption process, leaving just the temporary hardship exemption. The 
temporary hardship exemption process is explained in the instructions 
to the forms that accompany this notice. The Department invites 
comments regarding any alternative procedures that might better address 
problems associated with mandatory electronic filing of the Forms LM-3 
and LM-4.
    While no other changes to any other forms covered by this ICR are 
contemplated at this time, the agency seeks comments on any aspect of 
this information collection. Those comments will be used to revise and 
extend OMB authorization under the PRA for this information collection.
    II. Review Focus: The Department is particularly interested in 
comments which:
    * Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is 
necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, 
including whether the information will have practical utility;
    * evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of 
the proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    * enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and
    * minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who 
are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other

[[Page 29099]]

technological collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

III. Current Actions

    The Department seeks to revise this information collection to 
provide for electronic filing. The information collected by OLMS is 
used by union members to help self-govern their unions, by workers 
making decisions regarding their collective bargaining rights, by the 
general public, and as research material for both outside researchers 
and within the Department. The information is also used to assist the 
Department and other government agencies in detecting improper 
practices on the part of labor organizations, their officers and/or 
representatives, and is used by Congress in oversight and legislative 
functions.

Burden Statement

    The Department does not anticipate any changes to its burden 
estimates, as provided in its most recent extension request for OMB 
#1245-0003.\4\ The only forms affected by this ICR amendment are the 
Forms LM-3 and LM-4. Further, none of the proposed changes affect the 
number of respondents. Rather, they would only affect the burden hours 
per respondent. Additionally, as stated in Part I, the Department 
already accounted for burden hour and cost savings, associated with EFS 
filing, in its last ICR revision, as it calculated the burden hour 
reduction associated with the 2011 implementation of EFS for Form LM-3 
and LM-4 filers. Thus, the Department expects all filers to actualize 
the burden reductions anticipated in 2013, during the most recent ICR 
renewal, not just the 40% of Form LM-3 filers and 37% of Form LM-4 
filers that currently take advantage of EFS.
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    \4\ The Department estimates that Form LM-3 and LM-4 filers will 
incur a one-time burden of one hour, in order to read the revised 
instructions and familiarize themselves with EFS.
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    The total burden for the Labor Organization and Auxiliary Reports 
information collection is summarized as follows:
    Type of Review: Revision.
    Agency: DOL-OLMS.
    Title of Collection: Labor Organization and Auxiliary Reports.
    OMB Control Number: 1245-0003.
    Affected Public: Private Sector--businesses or other for-profits, 
farms, and not-for-profit institutions; and Individuals or Households.
    Total Estimated Number of Responses: 31,501.
    Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours: 4,582,392.
    Total Estimated Annual Other Costs Burden: $0.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) approval of the information collection request; they will also 
become a matter of public record. The Department notes that it has a 
pending rulemaking concerning two of the reports included in the Labor 
Organization and Auxiliary Reports information collection: The Form LM-
10 Employer Report and the Form LM-20 Agreement and Activities Report 
filed by labor relations consultants. See 76 FR 37292. The Department 
received comments on those information collections during the 
rulemaking, and it will respond to such comments in any final rule 
issued, as well as in any separate request for amendment to the 
information collection submitted to OMB in the context of that 
rulemaking.

    Dated: May 14, 2015.
Andrew R. Davis,
Chief of the Division of Interpretations and Standards, Office of 
Labor-Management Standards, U.S. Department of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2015-12272 Filed 5-19-15; 8:45 am]
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