Office of Labor-Management Standards Program Data Comparing Fiscal Year 2001 With Fiscal Year 2007

Compliance Audits

A major initiative of the Employment Standards Administration’s Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) has been increasing the number of compliance audits, which assist unions in meeting their statutory obligations under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) and allow OLMS to verify compliance. In FY 2004, increased staffing enabled OLMS to establish a new unit with the express mission of increasing OLMS audit presence in international unions, thus enhancing their compliance with the LMRDA. Increased staffing in field offices also allowed the agency to expand its local union audit program, which had been in steady decline as resources had been reduced over the previous decade. OLMS completed 775 compliance audits in FY 2007, a 226 percent increase from FY 2001. As a result of the creation of an international compliance audit team in FY 2004, OLMS completed 7 compliance audits of international unions, which is an increase from 1 in FY 2001.

Criminal Case Enforcement

The LMRDA establishes criminal penalties for certain violations, such as embezzlement, filing false reports, keeping false records, destruction of records, extortionate picketing and deprivation of rights by violence. In fiscal year 2007, OLMS completed 406 criminal cases. Indictments, at 99, returned to FY 2001 levels. The number of convictions increased to 118, a 16 percent increase from FY 2001. In addition, in FY 2007, court-ordered restitution amounted to $32,157,335.

OLMS Enforcement Statistics – Financial Integrity	FY 2001	FY 2002	FY 2003	FY 2004	FY 2005	FY 2006	FY 2007	Change from FY 2001
Criminal Cases Processed	370	409	319	304	325	339	406	+10%
Indictments	98	166	132	109	114	118	99	+1%
Convictions	102	90	152	111	97	129	118	+16%
Compliance Audits (CAP) Conducted	238	277	255	532	612	736	775	+226%
International Compliance Audits (I-CAP) Conducted	1	2	0	1	7	5	7	+600%

Union Financial Reporting

OLMS completed 2,088 cases to obtain delinquent annual financial reports from unions. This represents an 11 percent increase over FY 2001 and demonstrates the agency’s continued effort to obtain union financial reports in a timely manner. Cases are opened after reports are 60 days delinquent and other efforts to obtain voluntary compliance have failed. The agency completed 778 cases seeking amended reports from unions whose annual reports failed to meet minimum standards for LMRDA reporting requirements, a 33 percent increase over FY 2001.

Electronic union report formats, first available for use in FY 2002, are significantly improving the quality of union annual financial reports submitted for public disclosure because of built-in edits and error checks. Before implementation of the electronic forms, only 73% of union reports met OLMS standards of acceptability. With increasing use of the electronic forms, the acceptability rate has markedly improved. The acceptability rate was 95 percent in FY 2007.

Union Officer Election and Trusteeship Cases

The LMRDA establishes democratic standards for conducting union officer elections. OLMS can investigate union officer elections only upon receipt of a timely-filed complaint from a member. As a result, the number of election cases varies from year to year. In fiscal year 2007, OLMS conducted 113 investigations of alleged impropriety in union officer elections. In 35 of those cases, OLMS determined that violations of election procedures had occurred that may have affected the election outcome. Twenty-eight cases were resolved through voluntary compliance agreements that OLMS negotiated with the unions. In the 7 cases where the unions refused to remedy the violations, OLMS filed suit in Federal district court to overturn the elections. In addition to investigating complaints and pursuing election violations, OLMS supervised 26 elections in unions previously found to have violated election provisions of the LMRDA.

The agency also conducted 9 investigations to determine the validity of the imposition or continuation of trusteeships imposed by national unions on subordinate bodies, representing a 22 percent decrease from FY 2001. Trusteeship investigations are conducted only upon receipt of a complaint from a member or subordinate body alleging that the national union has violated Section 304 of the LMRDA. As trusteeship investigations are complaint driven, the number varies from year to year.

Last Updated: 12/27/07