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FAQ’s About LM-30 Reporting for Officers and Employees of National AAUP

Summary of LM-30 Facts

As an AAUP officer, state conference officer, officer of a private-sector collective bargaining chapter or non-clerical employee of the national AAUP or a state conference you must file an LM-30 if you have received “anything of value” totaling more than $250 (beyond employment or regular business transactions) from an employer of AAUP members, an employer AAUP is seeking to organize, or a vendor to the AAUP.
You may also need to file an LM-30 if you, your spouse or minor child receives anything of value (other than income as an employee) from, or has a financial interest in, a vendor to the AAUP. The filing obligation also applies to receipts from an entity that does a substantial amount of business with a college or university with a private-sector AAUP collective bargaining chapter.
The LM-30 is due ninety days after the end of the calendar year for which it is reporting. This is usually the last day of March.

LM-30 Facts

The LM-30 is an annual report required by the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”). Individual “union officers” and “non-clerical staff” must file it – but only if you receive “anything of value” over $250.00 from specific sources. These sources are:

a private college or university at which AAUP represents members in collective bargaining,
a vendor to the national AAUP or
another business with connections to the national AAUP.

The $250 threshold excludes your salary and regular business transactions.

For certain more significant transactions or relationships, the filing obligation includes your spouse and minor child. You and these family members will need to file an LM-30 for receiving anything of value from these sources:

A vendor in which you or your family have a financial interest that provides goods or services to national AAUP
A vendor that derives 10% or more of its income providing products or services to private-sector colleges and universities at which AAUP represents members in collective bargaining
A financial trust or certain other businesses with connections to AAUP.

Finally, the DOL requires you to disclose anything of value over $250, beyond regular business transactions, received from
(1) private-sector colleges and universities whose employees the AAUP or any of its affiliates represents or actively seeks to represent,
(2) employers that do business with those institutions, and/or
(3) employers that do business with trust funds that service AAUP’s members.

Importantly, the definition of “employer” does not include public-sector colleges and universities or any other state or federal entities.

It is likely that few, if any, AAUP officers or employees will have anything to report. Nevertheless to avoid future problems, we suggest that AAUP staff and elected officers decline to accept anything of value over $250 from an employer, business or vendor. The best course is to decline or else to pay for what you receive. This includes paying your share of an event. Note that if you determine that you need to file an LM-30, you must keep all supporting records for five years after filing.

Frequently Asked Questions About the LM-30 in General

Q: Are AAUP officers and non-clerical staff required to file LM-30s?

The AAUP maintains that its officers and non-clerical staff are not required to file LM-30’s, but has indicated to the DOL that they will do so voluntarily. If it is necessary for you to file an LM-30, we recommend that you include a cover letter with your filing that says “The national AAUP voluntarily complies with the LMRDA. Accordingly, I am voluntarily submitting Form LM-30.”

Q: Do I need to file an LM-30?

You need to file an LM-30 only if you have received anything of more than $250 in value from an employer, vendor or other entity that does business with the AAUP through our representational work. Of course, payments and benefits received in connection with employment, and items received because you have paid for them, are not reportable. In addition, if you, your spouse or minor child has a financial interest or receives an income (other than as an employee) or anything of value from an employer of AAUP members, a vendor to the AAUP, a vendor that derives 10% of more of its income selling products or services to the employer of AAUP-represented members, or certain other businesses (like financial trusts) with connections to the AAUP, you must disclose this in an LM-30 report. (Note: if you reimbursed the organization that provided the gift for the value of the gift within the same fiscal year, you need not report the gift.)

Q: What does “anything of value” include?

The rule includes meals, travel expenses or accommodations, holiday gifts, tickets to events, the use of facilities or equipment for personal reasons (i.e. a facility for a social event or a vacation property), reimbursement of personal expenses, and loans. You must aggregate gifts from one source over a calendar year.

Note, however, that gifts valued at $20 or less do not need to be included in determining whether the $250 threshold has been met. In addition, sporadic or occasional gifts, gratuities, or loans of $250 or less do not have to be reported if they are given under circumstances unrelated to your status as an AAUP official or employee (e.g. hotel room or airline seat upgrades offered because of customer loyalty).

Q: How are shared meals calculated?

There may have been occasions in the past where an officer or staff member ate a meal with an employer who picked up the tab. It would be reportable if the value of the meal to the officer or employee was more than $250, which is admittedly unlikely. However, if an officer were to share five meals, each paid for by the employer and each of $55 value to the officer, then those meals would be reportable. Splitting the tab would eliminate a reportable event. Because of the rule that gifts of less than $20 value do not count towards the $250 aggregate, even regular “gifts” of coffee and the like at meetings do not have to be reported.

Attendance at one or two employer-sponsored “widely attended gatherings” per year also does not have to be reported. An event is a “widely attended gathering” under DOL rules if the employer or business hosting it; spends $125 or less per guest; invites a large number of people, a substantial number of whom have no relationship with the AAUP; and does not single out national AAUP officers or employees for special treatment.

Q. How is the value of hotel rooms calculated?

Free rooms or room upgrades, given in the ordinary course of the hotel’s business, are not reportable. For example, if the AAUP receives a certain number of free rooms as a part of a package deal in connection with holding a AAUP event at the hotel – an arrangement that the hotel would make with any comparable customer in the ordinary course of business – the occupants of the free rooms and suites do not need to report their value on an LM-30. Similarly, if an AAUP Council member or employee has his or her room upgraded because the AAUP is a regular customer of the hotel or its chain, the value of the hotel room upgrade does not need to be reported. However, a free room or upgrade given to someone because of their status as an AAUP Council member, CBC EC member or employee, and not because of the national AAUP’s status as customer, would be reportable.

Q: What about gifts to the AAUP itself?

Gifts to the AAUP, as an organization, are not reportable, even if the AAUP passes them on to its employees. Gifts that are formally to the AAUP are reportable if they are effectively targeted to particular individuals. For example, if a vendor occasionally provides event tickets to the AAUP but a particular AAUP officer or staff person always takes them, that individual will be expected to report the tickets.

Q. Does the AAUP National file my LM-30? When is it due?

It is the responsibility of individual AAUP officers and employees to file LM-30’s themselves. The AAUP Legal Department is available to answer questions of a general nature.

The LM-30 is due ninety days after the end of the calendar year for which it is reporting. This is usually the last day of March.

Examples of Specific Questions that May Arise

Q: I am speaking at the Hunter College annual conference on collective bargaining in higher education. The conference is reimbursing my travel and hotel costs, which total $300. Must I report this?

No. Hunter College is a public institution. You need not report any monies received from state or federal government entities.

Q: At my private college, I serve as faculty advisor for an undergraduate residence hall. I was selected for this assignment through a competitive process. As part of my responsibilities, I eat dinner once a week with the students in the dining hall. Must I report the cost of these meals?

No. Two exceptions apply in this situation, either of which suffices to show you have no reporting obligation for the meal costs.

(1) The meals are provided as a benefit to you as an employee. They are akin to regular salary payments that would be provided to any employee who performs the duty of faculty advisor.
(2) Even for items that are reportable, there is an exception for totals less than $250. You need not include items under $20 into the calculation of the $250. Since there is likely no such thing as a dining hall meal worth $20, there is no reporting obligation in any case.

Q: I am speaking at the Stetson University School of Law (“SUSL”) annual conference on higher education law and policy. The conference is paying my airfare and hotel, which together total $300. Must I report this payment on the LM-30? Stetson University is a private institution.

No. SUSL is not an employer of AAUP-represented bargaining unit members and AAUP is not seeking to represent SUSL employees, so it very likely is not an entity whose gifts are covered by the LM-30 requirement. In any case, if your invitation was the result of your expertise regarding the subject matter, rather than because of your status as an AAUP staff member or officer, you would not have to report SUSL’s reimbursement of your travel expenses.

Q: I am the president of an AAUP collective bargaining chapter at a private university. I also serve on the national AAUP Council. I recently won a grant from the university to perform a research project. I have never received anything else from the university that is even arguably a “gift.” Must I report this grant in an LM-30 report?
No. The grant is not a “gift.” It was not awarded to you because of your affiliation with AAUP, but rather because of your scholarship. You are not required to report it, and if you have not received anything from the university that would qualify as a “gift” under the rules, you do not have to file an LM-30 this year.
Q: I am on the AAUP Executive Committee. A law firm representing the AAUP gave me two tickets to see a theater performance when I was in Washington, DC for a meeting. Do I have to report this on my LM-30?

You may need to. The law firm is certainly a vendor to the AAUP; accordingly, if the value of the tickets was $250 or more, you would have file an LM-30 and report the tickets as gift. On the other hand, if you reimbursed the firm for the ticket cost in the same fiscal year that you attended the performance, you would not need to file an LM-30.

Q: I am an employee of national AAUP and was invited to speak to a local chapter of the AAUP. The chapter paid for my travel expenses, including the plane tickets, hotel room and meals. Must I report this on an LM-30?

No. Reimbursements by an AAUP chapter to a national AAUP officer or employee are not reportable gifts. By the same token, reimbursements to local chapter officers from the national AAUP are also not reportable gifts.

Q: I am the president of the AAUP collective bargaining chapter representing adjuncts at a private college. I also serve on the national AAUP Council. My college allows me to attend grievance meetings during my regularly scheduled work hours. Must I report this?

It depends. If the college reduces your salary for the time you spend processing chapter grievances, there is nothing to report; your institution has not compensated you for doing union work. If the college pays you for the time you spend processing grievances, you must report this pay on an LM-30 as a gift unless both of the following are true: you spent less than 250 hours doing union work on time for which you were compensated by the college and your collective bargaining agreement explicitly allows for payments in this situation.

Q: How do the LM-30 requirements relate to national AAUP’s Policy of Financial Conflicts of Interest (approved 6/8/01)?
A: The Policy on Financial Conflicts of Interest is broader. It does not, for example, have a dollar threshold for reporting potential conflicts. It also covers a broader group of family members than the LM-30 reporting. Whether or not Council members file an LM-30 form, they should continue to follow the Policy on Financial Conflicts of Interest. If a Council member or national AAUP employee does file an LM-30 form, please provide a copy of your form to the General Secretary.