|
 Printer-Friendly Version
OPA Press Release:
Labor Opens ERISA Investigation of Enron
Assistance to Dislocated Workers Also Begins Today
WASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao confirmed
today that the U.S. Department of Labor has opened an investigation into
questions raised by Enron’s handling of its workers’ retirement
benefit plans. Secretary Chao also announced that the Department has teamed up
with the Texas Workforce Commission to help workers who are being laid off in
the wake of Enron’s bankruptcy.
“Enron’s employees have gotten the short end of the stick in
the sudden collapse of this company, and we are committed to doing everything
we can to help them,” Chao said.
Last week, Enron filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and then announced
plans to lay off 4,000 employees and put another 3,500 on temporary leave. In
response to these sudden layoffs, the U.S. Department of Labor and the Texas
Workforce Commission have set up rapid response teams to provide orientation
sessions for the affected workers, informing them how to sign up for
unemployment insurance benefits and receive free job training and other
services.
The U.S. Department of Labor has also activated its toll-free hotline,
1-877-US2-JOBS, to take calls from laid-off Enron employees and direct them to
nearby One-Stop reemployment centers. Enron employees with questions about
their employee benefit plans can also call the Department’s Pension and
Welfare Benefit Administration’s Dallas office at 214-767-6831.
Many Enron employees lost 70-90% of their retirement assets after the
company indicated that it would re-state profit reports. The Labor
Department’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration is reviewing
Enron’s benefits plans, the rules that govern them, and steps that were
taken by the company shortly before its collapse to temporarily freeze trading
of 401(k) plan assets. This action is being closely coordinated with other
government agencies investigating Enron.
# # #
_________________________________________________________________
| 
