April 8, 1998

Minnesota Check Printers Settle Labor Department Lawsuit Involving Life Insurance Premiums

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U. S. Department of Labor has obtained a settlement in which Deluxe Corp. and its subsidiary Deluxe Printers, Inc., based in St. Paul, Minn., have agreed to give employees a premium reduction on life insurance payments owed for eligible participants and dependents.

March 30, 1998

Ohio Dairy Executives Charged With Misusing 401(K) Assets

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U. S. Department of Labor today sued executives of Brewster Dairy, Inc., in Brewster, Ohio, for imprudently investing more than $1 million of the company’s 401(k) profit sharing plan assets in a real estate limited partnership.

Brewster Dairy is a manufacturer of cheese and other dairy byproducts. The 401(k) plan, which covered 194 employees, had $10,440,119 in assets as of March 1996.

March 26, 1998

Trustee Of Inglewood 401(K) Plan Charged With Misusing Pension Money

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U. S. Department of Labor has obtained a court judgment removing Levi J. Carey Sr., owner of Inglewood-based Computer Software Analysts, Inc., as a trustee to the company’s 401(k) plan and appointing an independent trustee to oversee the plan.

March 16, 1998

Executive To Make Restitution To Profit Sharing Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U. S. Department of Labor today has obtained a settlement agreement requiring an owner of now-defunct Home Electric Service, Inc. of Lake Worth, Fla. to make restitution of $30,000 to the company’s profit sharing plan and appointing an independent manager to oversee the plan.

March 16, 1998

Industrial Workers' Fund Official Issued By U.S. Department Of Labor

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Trustees and administrators of the now defunct Brotherhood of Industrial Workers’ health and welfare fund have been sued by the U.S. Department of Labor for diverting or permitting the diverting of close to $700,000 needed to pay medical and dental claims and to pay the costs of administering the fund.

March 12, 1998

Chicago Insurance Agency And Owner Removed From Pension Plans

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Chicago-based Illinois Vehicle Insurance Agency, Inc. (IVIA), its owner and a trustee to the company’s pension plan and 401(k) plan agreed to be removed as plan officials and to be permanently barred from serving any plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) in the future, according to a judgment obtained by the U. S. Department of Lab

March 11, 1998

Santa Ana Firm And Owner Agree To Pay $220,000 Restitution To Pension Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U. S. Department of Labor has obtained a settlement with Sherwood Shutter Corp. of Santa Ana, and its owner, Michael L. Thibodeau, to repay over $220,000 plus interest owed to the company’s profit sharing plan.

The profit sharing plan, created in 1986, covers 178 participants and had $320,748 in assets as of April 30, 1995. Thibodeau serves as a plan trustee and the company is administrator of the plan.

March 3, 1998

New York Trustee Indicted For Embezzlement

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The owner of the now-defunct engineering support service company in Ronkonkoma, New York, has been indicted by a federal grand jury for the Eastern District of New York for embezzlement of $239,160 from the company’s pension plan.

Alejandro Salas was the owner of Craftsmen Corporation, 4175 Veterans Memorial Highway in Ronkonkoma and a trustee of its defined benefit pension plan, which covered 29 employees.

March 2, 1998

Bowmansville Company And Trustee Agree To Repay Over $1.6 Million To Pension Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Bella Vista Group, Inc. of Bowmansville, N.Y., and company president Pasquale Cipolla have agreed to repay $1,638,867 to the company’s profit sharing plan as restitution for substantial losses on a series of loans made by the pension plan to companies owned by Cipolla under a consent judgment and order obtained by the U. S. Department of Labor.

February 28, 1998

Los Angeles Firm And Pension Plan Trustees Sued For Mismanagement Of Plan Assets

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U. S. Department of Labor has sued Mobile Medical Diagnostics, Inc. of Los Angeles and its pension plan trustees for more than $245,000 in improper plan transfers to benefit the company and for failing to collect employer contributions owed to the money purchase plan.

February 26, 1998

EBSA Press Release: Labor Secretary Names Chairs for ERISA Advisory Council [02/26/1998]

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

For more information call: (202) 219-8921

Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman today named Marilee Pierotti Lau of San Francisco, Calif. as chair of the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, which is more commonly known as the ERISA Advisory Council. Also named as the council's vice chair was Kenneth S. Cohen of Amherst, Mass.

February 25, 1998

Mississippi Plan Trustee Pleads Guilty To Embezzling Plan Funds

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

A trustee of an employee benefit plan in Jackson, Miss., pleaded guilty to one count of embezzling nearly $95,000 of the plan's money and converting it to his own use.

John Francis Schmelzer pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a May 14 indictment that he embezzled $94,833.00 from the Professional Staffing Service CA Money Purchase Plan, an employee benefit plan governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

February 20, 1998

EBSA Press Release: Labor Department Announces Initiatives to Implement President Clinton's Consumer Bill of Rights Directive [02/20/1998]

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

For more information call: (202) 219-8921

U.S. Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman today announced three initiatives to implement President Clinton's Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities directive to improve the quality and fairness of health care for millions of Americans.

February 19, 1998

Court Orders Restitution Of More Than $227,000 To Compton Pension Plan

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

A Los Angeles federal court entered a default judgment requiring Mid-Cities Association for Retarded Children of Compton, Calif. and the trustees of its defined benefit plan to pay $227,515 and any future losses as restitution to the plan.

February 17, 1998

Washington, D.C. Native Named Regional Director For Pension And Welfare Benefits Administration In Philadelphia

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

Mabel Lum Capolongo, a native of Washington, D.C., has been named regional director of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Pension and Welfare Benefits Administration Office (PWBA) in Philadelphia.

The mission of the PWBA is to protect the integrity of pensions, health plans, and other employee benefits for more than 200 million people

February 11, 1998

Former Georgia Pension Trustee Sentenced For Embezzling Plan Money

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

A former trustee of the Glasstream Boats, Inc. profit sharing plan in Nashville, Ga. was sentenced to six months in prison for embezzlement of more than $149,000 in plan assets for his own use. Adolphus L. Kirkland Jr. has already paid $149,557.11 in restitution to the plan.

The profit sharing plan covered 112 participants and had $298,839 in assets as of April 30, 1992. Kirkland was the sole trustee of the plan.

February 9, 1998

EBSA Press Release: Labor Department Warns Employee Benefit Plan Administrators about Year 2000 Software Problem and Calls for Immediate Action [02/09/1998]

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

For more information call: (202) 219-8921

Today, Assistant Secretary of Pensions and Welfare Benefits Administration Olena Berg reminded employee benefit plan administrators and service providers of the need for action to address the looming Year 2000 software problem in order to protect workers' benefits as the century turns.

February 9, 1998

EBSA Press Release: Labor Secretary Names ERISA Advisory Council Members [02/09/1998]

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

For more information call: (202) 219-8921

Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman today appointed seven new members to the Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans to represent various sectors of the employee benefit industry.

February 4, 1998

EBSA Press Release: Labor Department Announces Delay of New Form 5500 to 1999 Plan Year to Provide Filers with More Filing Time [02/04/1998]

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

For more information call: (202) 219-8921

The Department of Labor announced today that, in response to public comments, the implementation of the streamlined Form 5500 Annual Return/Report is being delayed until the 1999 plan year to give plans and their service providers more time to prepare for the new form.

February 4, 1998

Labor Department Sues Ohio Corporation And Plan Trustees For Illegally Withholding Employee Contributions

Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.

The U.S. Department of Labor has filed a lawsuit against a Columbus, Oh., corporation and its plan trustees for failing to promptly remit the money withheld from employees' paychecks into the 401(k) plan's investment accounts.