Former Massachusetts employer agrees to restore employee contributions to company SIMPLE IRA plan to resolve U.S. Labor Department lawsuit

Boston – Matthew G. Hillery, president and sole officer of defunct Solid Sense Systems Corp. of Waltham, Massachusetts, has agreed to restore more than $25,000 to the company’s savings incentive match plan for employees individual retirement account (SIMPLE IRA) under a consent judgment obtained by the U.S. Department of Labor. The judgment resolves a lawsuit that alleged he violated his duty as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, the suit alleged that the company failed to forward to the plan $19,894 in contributions withheld from employees’ paychecks beginning in April 2003. The company ceased operations in October 2006. Hillery, as functional fiduciary of the plan, also allegedly failed to ensure that employee contributions were properly forwarded to the plan.

The Solid Sense Systems Corp. SIMPLE IRA, established on January 1, 2000, was set up to provide retirement benefits for the exclusive benefit of its participants, the employees of Solid Sense Systems Corp.

“This defendant failed to discharge his fiduciary duties to the plan and its participants,” said Jean Ackerman, regional director of the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) in Boston. “The funds of employee benefit plans are to be used for the sole benefit of plan participants and beneficiaries, and not for the benefit of the company that sponsors the plan.”

The department’s judgment orders Hillery to pay to the plan $19,894 in restitution, plus $5,237 in lost opportunity costs and post-judgment interest. The defendant also must ensure that plan participants receive their proper shares of these payments and provide proof of the payments to the Labor Department.

This case was investigated by EBSA’s Boston Regional Office, which can by reached at 617.565.9600. Employers and workers may also call toll-free at 866.444.3272 for help with problems relating to private sector pension and health plans. In fiscal year 2008, EBSA achieved monetary results of $1.2 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits for millions of American workers and their families. Additional information can be found at www.dol.gov/ebsa.

Solis v. Matthew G. Hillery
Civil Action Number: 1:09-CV-10344-GAO

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