§ 502. — Bonding of officers and employees of labor organizations; amount, form, and placement of bonds; penalty for violation.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 29USC502]
TITLE 29--LABOR
CHAPTER 11--LABOR-MANAGEMENT REPORTING AND DISCLOSURE PROCEDURE
SUBCHAPTER VI--SAFEGUARDS FOR LABOR ORGANIZATIONS
Sec. 502. Bonding of officers and employees of labor
organizations; amount, form, and placement of bonds; penalty for
violation
(a) Every officer, agent, shop steward, or other representative or
employee of any labor organization (other than a labor organization
whose property and annual financial receipts do not exceed $5,000 in
value), or of a trust in which a labor organization is interested, who
handles funds or other property thereof shall be bonded to provide
protection against loss by reason of acts of fraud or dishonesty on his
part directly or through connivance with others. The bond of each such
person shall be fixed at the beginning of the organization's fiscal year
and shall be in an amount not less than 10 per centum of the funds
handled by him and his predecessor or predecessors, if any, during the
preceding fiscal year, but in no case more than $500,000. If the labor
organization or the trust in which a labor organization is interested
does not have a preceding fiscal year, the amount of the bond shall be,
in the case of a local labor organization, not less than $1,000, and in
the case of any other labor organization or of a trust in which a labor
organization is interested, not less than $10,000. Such bonds shall be
individual or schedule in form, and shall have a corporate surety
company as surety thereon. Any person who is not covered by such bonds
shall not be permitted to receive, handle, disburse, or otherwise
exercise custody or control of the funds or other property of a labor
organization or of a trust in which a labor organization is interested.
No such bond shall be placed through an agent or broker or with a surety
company in which any labor organization or any officer, agent, shop
steward, or other representative of a labor organization has any direct
or indirect interest. Such surety company shall be a corporate surety
which holds a grant of authority from the Secretary of the Treasury
under sections 9304-9308 of title 31, as an acceptable surety on Federal
bonds: Provided, That when in the opinion of the Secretary a labor
organization has made other bonding arrangements which would provide the
protection required by this section at comparable cost or less, he may
exempt such labor organization from placing a bond through a surety
company holding such grant of authority.
(b) Any person who willfully violates this section shall be fined
not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both.
(Pub. L. 86-257, title V, Sec. 502, Sept. 14, 1959, 73 Stat. 536; Pub.
L. 89-216, Sec. 1, Sept. 29, 1965, 79 Stat. 888.)
Codification
In subsec. (a), ``sections 9304-9308 of title 31'' substituted for
``the Act of July 30, 1947 (6 U.S.C. 6-13)'' on authority of Pub. L. 97-
258, Sec. 4(b), Sept. 13, 1982, 96 Stat. 1067, the first section of
which enacted Title 31, Money and Finance.
Amendments
1965--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 89-216 substituted ``to provide
protection against loss by reason of act of fraud or dishonesty on his
part directly or through connivance with others'' for ``for the faithful
discharge of his duties'' in first sentence and inserted proviso
allowing Secretary to permit other arrangements to provide necessary
protection.
