AFL-CIO Sues Labor Department Over Financial Reporting Rule (1)

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest coalition of labor unions, has sued the Department of Labor over a recent final rule that altered financial disclosure forms for labor unions.

The DOL’s rule created a new LM-2 Long Form document that the nation’s largest unions are required to submit every year and changed reporting requirements for other disclosure forms. The AFL-CIO claimed in its lawsuit filed Wednesday with the US District Court for the District of Columbia that the rule “blindsided” labor organizations with “sweeping changes” to their disclosure requirements.

The department violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to give a notice and comment period to solicit feedback from the public, according to the complaints. The AFL-CIO also claimed the rule was “arbitrary and capricious” and exceed the department’s authority.

The DOL said in its regulatory document last month that it wasn’t required to hold a comment period because it had already done so during the first Trump administration, when this rule was first proposed.

The disclosure forms require unions to declare the salaries of officers and itemized receipts over a certain amount from the prior year. The DOL’s rule requires labor unions with more than $40 million in annual receipts to fill out the LM-2 Long Form report and would apply to around 104 unions, including the AFL-CIO.

Changes to the thresholds for what kind of expenses need to be reported means that unions will have to “dramatically retool their accounting systems almost instantly,” the AFL-CIO said in its complaint.

The AFL-CIO is asking the district court for a preliminary injunction to stop the rule from going into effect on July 1 in addition to throwing out the rule in its entirety.

A DOL spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment but the department has said previously that the rule would allow the public to better see how union dues are used and would deter and help detect “fraud and embezzlement.”

The case is AFL-CIO v. Sonderling, D.D.C., No. 1:26-cv-02061, complaint filed 6/10/26.