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Release Date: 08/20/2003
Release Number: 351
Contact Name: Sharon Morrissey
Phone Number: 202.693.8664
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Green Bay, Wisconsin - The U.S. Department of
Labor has filed a lawsuit against Greenville-based Paul Peters
Construction, Inc., (PPCI) and trustees of the company’s savings and
retirement plan for failing to forward $10,440 in employee contributions
to the plan and retaining the contributions with the general assets of the
company. |
Named
in the suit are Paul J. Peters, president and sole owner of PPCI, his
wife, Kathleen M. Peters, the company’s secretary/treasurer, and his
son, Eric Peters, PPCI’s vice president. The suit alleges that from
February 1, 2002, through September 30, 2002, PPCI withheld employees’
salary reduction contributions and failed to remit them to the plan’s
account, retaining them in the company’s own general assets. |
Paul
and Kathleen Peters filed for personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy on January 7,
2003. The Department of Labor filed an adversary complaint on April 25 in
the Peters’ bankruptcy seeking to prevent them from discharging any
debts owed the plan. |
The
lawsuit, filed August 15 in federal district court in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, seeks the appointment of an independent fiduciary to manage and
terminate the plan. The suit also seeks to remove the defendants from
their positions with the plan, require them to repay the plan for the
losses plus interest and permanently bar them from acting in a trust
capacity to any plan covered under the Employee Retirement Income Security
Act (ERISA). If necessary, the suit also asks that Paul and Eric Peters’
accounts be offset to restore accounts of non-fiduciary participants. |
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Paul Peters Construction, Inc., a builder of custom
homes, went out of business in November 2002. The 401(k) plan had assets
totaling $26,186.54 and 16 participants as of December 31, 2002. |
Kenneth
Bazar, director of the department’s Chicago regional office of the
Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), said, “Even when plan
fiduciaries declare personal bankruptcy, we still act to recoup as much
money as possible to pay promised retirement benefits of plan
participants.” |
Employers
with similar problems, who are not yet the subject of an investigation by
EBSA, may be eligible to participate in the department's Voluntary
Fiduciary Correction Program (VFCP). Participation in the VFCP requires
employers to make workers whole but allows them to avoid EBSA enforcement
actions, civil penalties and any applicable excise taxes. For more
information see www.dol.gov/ebsa. |
Employers
and workers can contact the Chicago Regional Office at 312.353.0900 or
EBSA’s toll free number, 1.866.444.EBSA (3272), for help with any
problems relating to private-sector pension and health plans. |
(Chao
v. Paul Peters Construction, Inc.)
Civil Action No. 03-C-0774 |
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U.S. Department of Labor
news releases are accessible on the Internet. The information in this news
release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large
print, Braille, audio tape or disc) from the Central Office for Assistive
Services and Technology. Please specify which news release when placing
your request. Call 202.693.7773 or TTY 202.693.7755. |
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