Deadline approaching for 'persuader' rule compliance

July 1 is the deadline for employers and labor consultants to comply with the Department of Labor’s new “persuader” reporting rule. The final rule significantly expands the circumstances obligating employers and labor consultants to report activities specifically undertaken to encourage employees to vote for or against union representation or take a certain position with respect to collective bargaining proposals. According to counsel and others directly involved in federal lawsuits challenging the rule, the DOL has clarified that the new reporting obligations in the final rule apply only to agreements or arrangements that employers and consultants enter into on or after July 1. The expanded reporting requirements do not apply for any agreements or arrangements entered into prior to July 1, even if the services are provided and/or paid for after July 1. The rule is being challenged in at least three separate pending federal lawsuits brought by various law firms, business groups and associations, including one by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, but no court yet has issued a decision invalidating the rule. AHA is a member of the Coalition.