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Release Date: December 19, 2007
Release Number: 07-1928-ATL (382)
Contact Name: Dan Fuqua/Michael Wald
Phone Number: 404.562.2078/404.562.2076
Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has
obtained a default judgment in the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of Alabama requiring S&M Holdings Inc. of Birmingham,
Alabama, and Robert Sandusky to restore $3,389 to the company’s 401(k)
plan. Sandusky served as the plan’s trustee.
“The Labor Department will act to protect employees’
rights when it sees that companies are failing in their fiduciary
responsibilities,” said Howard Marsh, director of the Atlanta Regional
Office of the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA).
The judgment resolved a lawsuit filed by the
department in June alleging that the company withheld employee
contributions to the plan in 2004 and failed to segregate employee
contributions from company assets in a timely manner in violation of the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
The court removed S&M Holdings Inc. and Robert
Sandusky as fiduciaries of the plan and barred them from future service
as fiduciaries to any plan covered by ERISA. An independent fiduciary
was appointed to oversee the plan’s assets for its 47 participants.
S&M Holdings, which ceased operations in January 2005, supplied
automobile parts and services.
In fiscal year 2006, EBSA achieved monetary results
of $1.4 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits
for millions of American workers and their families. Employers and
workers can reach EBSA’s Atlanta Regional Office at 404.302.3900 or
toll-free at 1.866.444.EBSA (3272) for help with problems relating to
private sector retirement and health plans.
Chao v. S&M Holdings Inc.
Civil Action File Number CV-07-J-1084-S
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placing your request at 202.693.7828 or TTY 202.693.7755. The U.S.
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