U.S. Labor Department Issues New Guidance On COVID Illness Reporting, Proposed Rule On Labor Unions

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published additional frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) regarding the need to report employees’ in-patient hospitalizations and fatalities resulting from work-related cases of COVID-19.

OSHA’s new FAQs provide information to help employers apply the agency’s existing injury and illness recording and reporting requirements to the coronavirus. In particular, the FAQs provide guidance on how to calculate reporting deadlines for in-patient hospitalizations and fatalities and clarify the meaning of the term “incident” as it relates to work-related coronavirus in-patient hospitalizations and fatalities.

Click here to read the latest FAQs.

Also from the Department of Labor last week: on September 30, the DOL’s Office of Labor-Management Standards issued a proposed rulemaking meant to “increase and enhance financial transparency for unions regulated by the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act.”

The rule revises the annual financial disclosure form, Form LM-2, through which labor organizations report their financial conditions and operations. The rule also introduces a new Form LM-2LF for the largest labor organizations. According to the DOL, the proposal would “allow members to stay better informed of their union’s financial conditions and operations” and to provide a deterrent to (and means of detection of) fraud and embezzlement.

The public has 60 days to comment on the proposal.

Click here for more information.