Media Release

Release Date: 12/14/1998
Release Number: KC-PWBA-12
Contact Name: Norma J. Conrad
Phone Number: 816.426.5491
Contact Name: Patrick A. Hand
Phone Number:826.426.5490
Contact Name: Sharon Morrissey
Phone Number: 202.219.8921

Labor Department Lawsuit Names Printing Company Executives

The owner of a St. Joseph, Mo. printing company and his manager have been sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for failing to forward $6,024 in contributions deducted from employee paychecks to the company’s 401(k) defined contribution plan.

Prompt Printing allegedly withheld the money from its employees’ paychecks, but failed to segregate the money from the company’s general assets and forward it to the plan from March 1994 until October 1995. Named in the lawsuit are owner Lynn Taylor and plant manager Steven Porter.

The plan, as established in January, 1994, allows employees to defer a portion of their compensation as contributions to the plan. There were six participants, including Porter, in the 401(k) plan. According to its third-party administrator, the 401(k) plan had no assets since no contributions were ever made to the plan. Prompt Printing ceased business operations in October, 1994.

The department’s lawsuit seeks to have a court order requiring the defendants to restore to the plan all losses, including lost interest, and to permanently bar Taylor and Porter from serving as fiduciaries to any plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). The suit also seeks to have the court appoint an independent trustee to manage the plan and to require that Porter’s individual plan account be used to offset losses to the plan.

The case was investigated by the Labor Department’s Kansas City Regional Office of the Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration, which enforces federal pension law. The lawsuit was filed Dec. 11 in the federal district court in Kansas City.

(Herman v. Lynn Taylor, et al)
Civil Action # 98-1289-CV-W-9

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