US Department of Labor announces non-enforcement of Final Rule on Form T-1 Trust Annual Report filing

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced that its Office of Labor-Management Standards will not enforce its final rule on “Labor Organization Annual Financial Reports For Trusts In Which A Labor Organization Is Interested, Form T-1” until one year after the date a labor organization’s first Form T-1 is due.

On March 6, 2020, the department published the Final Rule “Labor Organization Annual Financial Reports For Trusts In Which A Labor Organization Is Interested, Form T-1.” The rule established the Form T-1 and required labor unions with $250,000 or greater in total annual receipts and which file the Form LM-2 annual union financial disclosure report to file this separate report covering the finances of certain trusts in which they are interested, such as apprenticeship and training plans, labor-management cooperation committees, strike funds and building corporations.

In addition to this non-enforcement policy, OLMS will publish notice of an intended rulemaking to propose rescission of the March 2020 final rule in the spring 2021 Semi-Annual Regulatory Agenda.

“The Office of Labor-Management Standards has reviewed the Form T-1 Rule and believes that legal and policy issues may exist concerning whether the rule exceeds the scope of the statute, and whether the rule’s purported benefits justify its known burdens,” said the Director of the Office of Labor-Management Standards Jeffrey Freund. “In light of those concerns, OLMS has also determined that it would not be a good use of its resources to enforce the rule, pending the rulemaking, concerning the filing of initial Form T-1 reports.”

OLMS will not seek to enforce the filing of initial Form T-1 reports until 12 months after their due date even if it does not rescind the Form T-1. Accordingly, labor organizations’ initial filings would take place in 2022 or 2023 along with subsequent T-1 reports already due in those years.

OLMS administers and enforces provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959. The LMRDA promotes union democracy and financial integrity in private sector labor unions, and transparency for labor unions and their officials, employers and their labor relations consultants, and others. Report fraud and other criminal activity such as embezzlement, filing false reports, maintaining false records, destroying or concealing records by email to OLMS-Public@dol.gov to the OLMS National Office at 202-693-0143, or to your local OLMS field office.