WASHINGTON, DC – Consistent with President Donald J. Trump’s Executive Order 13847, Strengthening Retirement Security in America, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced a proposed rule to allow online retirement plan disclosures to reduce printing and mail expenses for job creators and make disclosures more readily accessible and useful for America’s workers.

SHELBYVILLE, TN – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee has approved a settlement between the U.S. Department of Labor and Big G Express Inc., Stephen Thompson, and David Nolan involving the company's Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).

In accordance with the consent judgment, Big G Express – a Shelbyville, Tennessee-based trucking company – paid $454,545 in restitution to the plan. The Department also assessed a civil penalty of $45,454 against the defendants.  

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced actions it is taking to assist Americans in states affected by Hurricane Dorian.

"The U.S. Department of Labor is actively engaged in Administration-wide efforts to help those impacted by Hurricane Dorian," said Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Patrick Pizzella. "As Americans from across the country rally to help each other, the Department of Labor is committed to supporting recovery efforts."

U.S. Department of Labor actions taken regarding Hurricane Dorian include the following:

CHARLOTTE, NC – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, Charlotte Division, has entered a consent judgment and order between the U.S. Department of Labor and Steven Matthew Good, William H. Winn Jr., SmartCore LLC, and the SmartCore LLC Group Health Benefit Plan requiring them to pay $21,404 to the plan participants to cover unpaid medical claims or to reimburse their contributions to the plan.

OMAHA, NE – After a joint investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. District Court of Nebraska has sentenced Craig A.

FOREST, VA – The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia has ordered the former CEO of a Virginia packaging equipment company and the bank that acted as a transactional fiduciary of the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) to restore $6,502,500 to the plan.

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a rule to help strengthen retirement security for millions of small business employees across America.

JACKSON, MI – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a consent order and judgment requiring the fiduciaries of the DJI & Associates Inc. Simple Plan to restore $68,539 to the Jackson, Michigan-based employee benefit plan.

YOUNGSTOWN, OH – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) and Office of Inspector General, U.S. District Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson of the Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division in Youngstown, Ohio, has sentenced former union official Terry Doan to one year in prison, followed by three years of probation. The court also ordered him to pay $195,446 in restitution to the Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee of the Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, Local 84 in Kent, Ohio.

NEW ORLEANS, LA – The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana accepted the guilty pleas of The Total Financial Group (TTFG) and its owners – Denis J. Joachim and Donna K. Joachim – after investigations by multiple government agencies – including the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) and Office of Inspector General (OIG) – found Covington, Louisiana-based TTFG and the Joachims created, marketed, and operated a fraudulent multiple employer welfare arrangement (MEWA).

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and the Treasury issued a new policy that will provide hundreds of thousands of employers, including small businesses, a better way to provide health insurance coverage, and millions of American workers more options for health insurance coverage. The Departments issued a final regulation that will expand the use of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs).

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the U.S. Department of Labor announced the appointments of six new members as well as chair and vice chair to the 2019 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, known as the ERISA Advisory Council.

FREMONT, OH – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Cincinnati office of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the Department of Labor has obtained a consent order and judgment requiring the fiduciaries of Fremont, Ohio-based Techniform Industries Inc. 401(k) Plan to restore $23,716 to the plan and pay a penalty of $4,743 for violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Department of Labor today released a policy statement regarding Association Health Plans (AHPs). The Department disagrees with the district court's ruling in The State of New York v. United States Department of Labor. The U.S. Department of Justice filed an appeal on April 26, 2019. 

CHICAGO, IL – The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, granted a motion allowing Morgan Administration Inc. and associated debtors doing business as Home Owners Bargain Outlet (HOBO), to engage Paradigm Health Plans, the approved third-party administrator, to reconcile and administer outstanding medical claims for employees participating in HOBO's health plan.

CHICAGO, IL – The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has sentenced Lake County, Illinois-based business owner Richard Booy, to serve five years imprisonment followed by an additional three years of supervised release, and to make $1,439,678 million in restitution for defrauding his clients in a Ponzi-type scheme totaling approximately $2 million. As a result of the the March 18, 2019 sentencing, Booy is statutorily barred from serving as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

LOS ANGELES, CA – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has entered a consent judgment against the individual defendants of a failing California-based Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangement (MEWA) in a Department lawsuit aimed at protecting more than 16,000 participants and beneficiaries.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL – After a U.S. Department of Labor Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) investigation of a multi-million dollar pension trust fraud, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has sentenced William H. Minor to 41 months in prison, three years of supervised release, a special assessment of $100, and ordered him to pay $1,636,604 restitution.

WEST PALM BEACH, FL – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has sentenced one co-founder of several Florida laboratory marketing companies and substance abuse recovery homes to prison and two other co-founders to probation for their parts in a widespread healthcare fraud scheme.

MIAMI, FL – After an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has sentenced Tina Marie Barbuto – a former licensed mental health counselor in Margate, Florida – to serve 36 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised release. Additionally, Barbuto will pay $3,132,806 in restitution and a $100 special assessment for her role in a conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud.