CHICAGO – The U.S. Department of Labor has asked a federal court in Illinois to hold fiduciaries of the United Employee Benefit Fund, along with its counsel, liable for more than $2.8 million in losses after an investigation found they allowed the misappropriation of the fund’s assets. A Chicago-based multiple employer welfare arrangement, UEBF provides life insurance benefits to about 63 nationwide employer-sponsored benefit plans.

Date of action:                       February 18, 2022

Type of action:                      Appellee brief

Names of respondents:         Alight Solutions LLC

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced publication of a Request for Information seeking public comment on what actions, if any, the department should take under federal law to protect retirement savings and pensions from risks associated with changes in climate.

DETROIT – A federal judge has signed a consent order and judgment against a Madison Heights company and ordered fiduciaries of the company’s retirement plan to restore $50,764 in employee payroll-deducted retirement contributions and lost opportunity costs to the plan, and pay a $10,153 penalty for violating the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

WASHINGTON – The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury today issued their 2022 Report to Congress on the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008.

SAN FRANCISCO – Sixteen people participating in an employee retirement plan sponsored by a now defunct Danville construction company will receive distributions of almost $1 million in assets following an investigation and litigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

SOMERSET, KY – For months, 11 employees at a Somerset home healthcare agency faced costly medical bills, unaware their employer had failed to remit contributions withheld from their wages to their healthcare plans, leading to a lapse in their medical insurance.

MINNEAPOLIS – The U.S. Department of Labor has recovered more than $9.3 million for participants of a Minneapolis manufacturing company’s employee stock ownership plan after the fund overpaid for company stock in 2011, under the terms of a consent judgment entered in a federal court.

BOSTON – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor has led the fiduciaries of a Utica, New York, employee stock ownership plan to agree to return $431,000 to the plan’s participants and take action to resolve its Employee Retirement Income Security Act violations.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today released Field Assistance Bulletin 2021-03 announcing a temporary enforcement policy regarding the new fee transparency disclosure requirements added to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act for persons providing brokerage services and consulting to ERISA group health plans.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation today released informational copies of the 2021 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report and related instructions – including the Form 5500-SF. The IRS also released the 2021 Form 5500-EZ and instructions, which are posted on the EBSA website.

WASHINGTON ­– The U.S. Department of Labor today released a Supplemental Statement clarifying a June 2020 Information Letter on private equity investments as a component of a professionally managed asset allocation fund offered as an investment option in participant-directed retirement savings plans, such as 401(k) plans. 

CINCINNATI – A federal judge in Cincinnati sentenced Ron Craig Estes to 18 months in prison on Dec. 14 after the Cincinnati businessman pleaded guilty to one count of theft or embezzlement from an employee benefit plan and one count of mail fraud.

MADISON, WI – A U.S. District Court judge in Wisconsin has held a Madison business owner in civil contempt of court after he failed to comply with a March 2021 consent order and judgment requiring him to restore $53,122 to the Thunderbird Engineering Inc. company’s 401(k) Plan.

LOUISVILLE, KY – A Louisville pharmacist who fraudulently billed healthcare benefit plans for $188,157 in unfilled prescriptions will serve 9 months in prison and 2 years of supervised release after pleading guilty in federal court. 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that enforcements by its Employee Benefits Security Administration recovered more than $2.4 billion in direct payments to plans, participants and beneficiaries in fiscal year 2021.

CHICAGO – A federal court in Chicago has ruled a Lincolnshire provider of employee benefit services must comply immediately with a U.S. Department of Labor administrative subpoena seeking documents for an Employee Benefits Security Administration investigation of unauthorized distributions from employee benefit accounts.

DALLAS – The U.S.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today announced Field Assistance Bulletin 2021-02, “Temporary Enforcement Policy on Prohibited Transaction Rules Applicable to Investment Advice Fiduciaries.”