Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed changes in the Department of Labor's enforcement activities under the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA).

GAO identified apparent and potential conflict-of-interest situations in Labor's enforcement activities and problems in Labor's procedures for helping its employees avoid conflict situations when enforcing LMRDA and title VII of the Civil Service Reform Act (CSRA). GAO found that: (1) Labor has not established specific review criteria for its officials to use when reviewing financial disclosure reports; (2) the Labor-Management Services Administration (LMSA) did not have adequate case assignment procedures to preclude its field investigators from assignment to unions in which they may have a personal or financial interest; (3) LMSA supervised national and local union elections in violation of CSRA; (4) although Labor developed special instructions to minimize the possible conflicts, LMSA officials believe that there was a potential for conflict in handling elections; and (5) Labor took action to establish more specific review criteria for reviewers of public financial disclosure reports to help resolve possible conflict situations in calendar years 1985 and 1986.