[World Labour Law News] US Department of Labour Finalises Rule Protecting Union Workers

Editorial Team – [2026] 187 taxmann.com 5 (Article)

1. Labour Law

1.1 US Department of Labour Finalises Rule Protecting Union Workers

On May 29, 2026, the U.S. Department of Labour announced a final rule that increases financial transparency for unions regulated by the Labour Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) and enhances protections for union workers.

Issued by the department’s Office of Labour Management Standards, the final rule modernises the reporting requirements of the Form LM-2, an annual financial disclosure form that larger labour organisations use to report their financial conditions and operations under the Act. The final rule also creates an enhanced Form LM-2 Long Form for the nation’s largest labour organisations. It increases filing thresholds for Forms LM-2, LM-3, and LM-4 to alleviate the burden on smaller labour organisations.

The final rule increases transparency for America’s hardworking union members by making practical reporting adjustments to reflect the growth and expansion of labour organisations’ financial operations since the passage of the LMRDA. The Office of Labour-Management Standards last substantially revised the Form LM-2 in 2003 and has not updated reporting thresholds for Forms LM-3 and LM-4 since 1992.

“Modern unions are financially complex organisations,”

said Office of Labour-Management Standards Director Elisabeth Messenger.

“The final rule fine-tunes reporting requirements for larger labour organisations – many of which report tens of millions of dollars in assets each year – and adjusts thresholds for smaller labour organisations to increase transparency for America’s hardworking union members and ensure reporting requirements keep pace as labour organisations evolve.”

Additionally, the rule allows union members to stay better informed about their union’s finances and operations by making it easier to see how their dues are spent. Increasing union financial transparency better enables members to meaningfully and effectively participate in the democratic governance of their union. The reforms also serve as a deterrent to fraud and embezzlement, and aid in their detection.

Further, the Office of Labour Management Standards administers and enforces provisions of the LMRDA, which promotes union democracy and financial integrity in private sector labour unions, transparency for labour unions and their officials and transparency for employers and labour relations consultants.

Source – Official News

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