By
SCOTT GOODSPEED and SHERRY HALBROOKIf you spend time at work doing PEF business, you may be required to report it to the feds under new regulations, enacted in 2007 by the Bush administration. This change and others took effect January 1 of this year.
Most notably, if you are being paid by your employer for time you spend on union work in 2008, and that time is not reimbursed to the employer by PEF, you may be required to report it to the U.S. Labor Department (USDOL).
Expose conflicts of interest
Originally, the regs, promulgated under the federal Labor-Management Reporting Disclosure Act (LMRDA), were enacted to make union financial transactions transparent by disclosing certain potential conflicts of interest between union officers and employers, and between union officers and vendors.
Traditionally, PEF officers and employees were required to disclose any monetary benefits they received from vendors and from the state and other public or private entities, whose employees PEF represents or is trying to organize.
Time is money
The new regs, however, focus more on identifying how much employer-paid time is spent on union business. The regs significantly expand the number and classes of union officials who must file lengthy financial reports.
Now, once the total hours of contractual leave exceed 250 in a single year, you must report all of the wages you received from your employer for time you spent conducting union business.
So, if you are a PEF steward who averages more than five hours per week helping union members while on contractually guaranteed union leave or release time, you must report all the wages and benefits you receive for those hours to the USDOL.
You are not required to report it if PEF reimburses your employer for the time you spent on union business.
You must report it all, even if it totals less than 250 hours, if your employer gives you union leave or release time under an arrangement or local agreement other than the PS&T contract or other collective-bargaining agreement.
Keep careful records
“The bottom line is that any PEF member who is paid by their employer while on union release time or union leave must keep track of all their time spent on such leave,” said PEF General Counsel William Seamon.
“If you are using union leave guaranteed by contract, the obligation to fill out a report won’t kick in until you’ve worked 250 hours. But it’s your responsibility to know when you meet that threshold. So, start keeping careful records now,” Seamon said. “And if your leave is guaranteed by some arrangement other than the contract, you must report all the wages and benefits received for those hours.
“It’s a good idea to keep track of any time you spend out of your workday doing union business.
“If PEF is going to pay your employer for it, PEF will need to know how much time it was. And if the union will not be reimbursing your employer for that time, you may have to report it to the USDOL on Form LM-30,” Seamon said.
The LM-30 for the period January 1, 2008 – December 31, 2008, must be filed by March 31, 2009.
Failure to file a form LM-30, could result in criminal penalties. Therefore, it is extremely important to keep good records of employer-paid time spent on union business.
For more information, check out the December 18, 2007, memo posted under Current News on the PEF Web site at www.pef.org. At the end of that memo, you will find links to download Form LM-30 and the instructions for completing it.
Taking a close look at the form and instructions now will give you a better idea of exactly what detailed information you will need to report this time next year.
Back to THE COMMUNICATOR home page