Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS)

OLMS Final Rule on Persuader Reporting Increases Transparency for Workers

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. The great Oz has spoken,” the actor Frank Morgan thundered in the famous 1939 movie.  If you believe in what an outside expert drafted for you to say to your employees, if you were willing to pay the outsider to help you say it, then open the curtain and reveal who scripted the message and managed its delivery.  

The Persuader Final Rule realigns the Department’s regulations with the text of a law passed by Congress, the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA). This Final Rule requires that employers and the consultants they hire file reports not only for direct persuader activities – consultants talking to workers – but also for indirect persuader activities – consultants scripting what managers and supervisors say to workers. Workers often don’t know that their employer hired a consultant to manage its message in union organizing campaigns, including by scripting speeches by managers, talking points, letters, and other documents. Consultants may also direct supervisors to express specific viewpoints that don’t match those supervisors’ actual views as individuals – something workers may find relevant in assessing the information they receive from their supervisors.

This Rule does not prohibit employers from hiring consultants or constrain them in what information they can provide; the Rule simply ensures that employees are given more information about the source of campaign material, which helps them make a more informed choice in exercising their rights.

This rule takes effect on April 25, 2016.  It will be applicable to arrangements, agreements, and payments made on or after July 1, 2016.  For further information, please view the OLMS employer-consultant reporting page.

 

LMRDA, Implementing Regulations, and Final Rule

Section 203 of the LMRDA Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR) (29 CFR Parts 405 and 406) Federal Register

Technical Assistance for Employers and Labor Relations Consultants

View the OLMS Employer-Consultant Reporting Page OLMS Fact Sheet: Employer-Consultant Agreements Form LM-21 Special Enforcement Policy Persuader Reporting Orientation Program (PROP) OLMS Online Public Disclosure Room

Media

View the Persuader Final Rule Overview and Summary Read OLMS Director Michael Hayes's March 23, 2016 Blog About the Final Rule See the Press Release Read Questions and Answers about the Persuader Final Rule Media Contact: Phone: (202) 693-6588; Email: Trupo.Michael@dol.gov

For Further Information Contact: Andrew R. Davis, Chief of the Division of Interpretations and Standards, Office of Labor-Management Standards, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue N.W., Room N-5609, Washington, DC 20210, olms-public@dol.gov, (202) 693-0123 (this is not a toll-free number), (800) 877-8339 (TTY/TDD).

 Original