Office of Labor-management Standards 29 Cfr Parts 405 and 406 Labor-management Reporting and Disclosure Act; Interpretation of the ''advice'' Exemption I. Statutory and Regulatory Background

The Office of LaborManagement Standards of the Department of Labor (Department) is proposing revisions to the Form LM–10 Employer Report and to the Form LM– 20 Agreements and Activities Report, which are required under section 203 of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA or Act), 29 U.S.C. 433. These reports cover agreements or arrangements between employers and labor relations consultants whereby the consultant undertakes activities to persuade employees concerning their rights to organize and bargain collectively. The Department proposes to revise its interpretation of the ‘‘advice’’ exemption to such reporting, by limiting the definition of what activities constitute ‘‘advice’’ under the exemption, and thus expanding those circumstances under which reporting is required of employer-consultant persuader agreements. The Department also proposes to revise the forms and instructions to make them more userfriendly and require more detailed reporting on employer and consultant agreements, as well as to require that Forms LM–10 and LM–20 be filed electronically. The Department invites comments on any aspect of this proposed rule. DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 22, 2011. ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by RIN 1215–AB79 and 1245– AA03. (The Regulatory Information Number (RIN) identified for this rulemaking changed with publication of the Spring 2010 Regulatory Agenda due to an organizational restructuring. The old RIN (1215–AB79) was assigned to the Employment Standards Administration, which no longer exists; a new RIN (1245–AA03) has been assigned to the Office of LaborManagement Standards.) The comments can be submitted only by the following methods: Internet: Federal eRulemaking Portal. Electronic comments may be submitted through http://www.regulations.gov. To locate the proposed rule, use RIN number 1245–AA03. Follow the instructions for submitting comments. Delivery: Comments should be sent to: Andrew R. Davis, Chief of the Division of Interpretations and Standards, Office of Labor-Management Standards, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N–5609, Washington, DC 20210. Because of security precautions the Department continues to experience delays in U.S. mail delivery. You should take this into consideration when preparing to meet the deadline for submitting comments. The Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) recommends that you confirm receipt of your delivered comments by contacting (202) 693–0123 (this is not a toll-free number). Individuals with hearing impairments may call (800) 877–8339 (TTY/TDD). Only those comments submitted through http://www.regulations.gov, hand-delivered, or mailed will be accepted. Comments will be available for public inspection at http:// www.regulations.gov and during normal business hours at the above address. The Department will post all comments received on http:// www.regulations.gov without making any change to the comments, including any personal information provided. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is the Federal e-rulemaking portal and all comments posted there are available and accessible to the public. The Department cautions commenters not to include personal information such as Social Security numbers, personal addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses in their comments as such submitted information will become viewable by the public via the http:// www.regulations.gov Web site. It is the responsibility of the commenter to safeguard this information. Comments submitted through http:// www.regulations.gov will not include the commenter’s e-mail address unless the commenter chooses to include that information as part of his or her comment.