|
Executives of ASA Freight Systems, Inc., a now
defunct Milwaukee business, were ordered to pay more than $10,000 in
restitution to participants covered by the company’s health benefit plan
and were barred from managing any plans governed by federal pension law in a
consent order and judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor.
In addition, the court ordered defendants Melvin
Gust and Patrick Crawley, the president and vice president, respectively of ASA
Freight, to amend the company’s bankruptcy filing to include any unpaid
medical claims owed to participants.
Gust and Crawley managed the company’s
self-funded health plan, which provided medical and dental benefits to 105
employees. The plan required that monthly contributions be withheld from
employees’ paychecks to pay for stop loss insurance coverage and plan
administrative costs. Any excess contributions could be used to pay medical
claims.
In a lawsuit filed simultaneously with the
judgment, the department alleged that the defendants failed to timely remit
employee contributions to the plan, did not pay the stop loss insurance
premiums and failed to pay any medical or dental claims of participants from
the period June 1 to Sept. 7, 1996. During that time, participants incurred in
excess of $100,000 in claims.
The action resulted from an investigation by the
Chicago Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration into
violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
The consent order and judgment were entered and the complaint was
filed July 2 in the federal district court in Milwaukee, Wis.
Herman v. Melvin Gust et al
Civil Action No.
99-C-0752 |
