Date of Action:                      July 20, 2023

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has obtained a judgment barring a plan administrator and its CEO Shelley Steele from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any plan covered by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, amid allegations they improperly paid themselves and affiliated businesses more than $100 million.

MADISON, WI – The U.S. Department of Labor has filed suit against the nation’s largest third-party medical claims administrator for routinely denying healthcare claims for emergency room services and urinary drug screening for at least 2,136 self-funded employee welfare benefit plans.

SALT LAKE CITY – A federal court in Utah has issued a preliminary injunction ordering the removal of the CEO and co-owner of Ascent Construction Inc. in Farmington as trustee of the company’s employee stock ownership plan after the U.S. Department of Labor learned he used more than $300,000 in the plan’s employee retirement funds to pay company business expenses.

WASHINGTON – The departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury today announced an important step in addressing the nation’s mental health crisis by proposing rules to better ensure that people seeking coverage for mental health and substance use disorder care can access treatment as easily as people seeking coverage for medical treatments.

NEW YORK – Fiduciaries of a retirement plan sponsored by DST Systems Inc. — including New York City-based investment management firm Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb Inc. — will pay more than $124.6 million to resolve violations of federal law related to their failure to manage the profit-sharing portion of the plan properly.

BALTIMORE – A federal court in Maryland has cited a Baltimore logistics, engineering and management support services company and its owner for contempt of court for failing to comply with a May 2022 consent judgment and order requiring them to restore $153,590 in missing contributions and interest to the company’s 401(k) plan.

WASHINGTON – To help create and promote business ownership by America’s workers, the U.S. Department of Labor today announced the launch of a new Employee Ownership Initiative within its Employee Benefits Security Administration.

Date of Action:          May 25, 2023 

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act consent order and judgment

Company/Owners:    Chicago Metropolitan Obstetricians and Gynecologists Ltd.

Dr. Ernest Hayes

CHICAGO – Health plan participants, employers and medical providers harmed by a multiple employer welfare arrangement, or “MEWA” operating in 36 states will begin to finally receive payments related to more than $54 million in unpaid health claims after a federal court’s action, prompted by litigation and investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration today issued Field Assistance Bulletin 2023-01 with frequently asked questions on the annual funding notice requirements for multiemployer pension plans that received special financial assistance under the American Rescue Plan Act.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced a settlement with the Prudential Insurance Company of America — a subsidiary of Prudential Financial Inc. — that will require the financial giant to revise its practices after a federal investigation found the Newark, New Jersey-based company collected life insurance premiums from participants for extended periods, but then denied numerous claims after the participants died, citing the participants’ failure to provide evidence of insurability when they applied for insurance.

Date of Action:          April 10, 2023

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act consent order and judgment

Company/Owners:    Fred Vargason

Nissan of St. Charles

Nissan of St. Charles Simple IRA Plan

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration will reopen the public comment period on the proposed amendment to Prohibited Transaction Class Exemption 84-14 – also known as the Qualified Professional Asset Manager Exemption – until April 6, 2023, to gather additional comments.

Date of Action:          March 7, 2023

Type of Action:         Employee Retirement Income Security Act default judgment

Company/Owners:    Gary Krieger, Stratagem Inc., Stratagem Inc. Group Medical Insurance Plan

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the appointment of five members and leadership for the 2023 Advisory Council on Employee Welfare and Pension Benefit Plans, also known as the ERISA Advisory Council.

The 15-member council provides advice on policies and regulations affecting employee benefit plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.

LOUISVILLE, KY – A federal court in Kentucky has sentenced the co-founder of several phony medical clinics in Louisville and Atlanta, who pleaded guilty to one felony count, after the U.S. Department of Labor found the operators collected $258,000 from 15 self-funded healthcare benefit programs for services they never provided.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor, the IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation today released Federal Register notices that announce changes to the 2023 Form 5500 Annual Return/Report of Employee Benefit Plan and Form 5500-SF Short Form. These changes are estimated to reduce overall filing costs for employee benefit plans by $95 million annually.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced today that its Employee Benefits Security Administration will reopen the public comment period on amendments to its Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program and the proposed amendment to the associated class Prohibited Transaction Exemption 2002-51.

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Labor has reached a settlement agreement with the fiduciaries of an Auburn, Maine, employee stock ownership plan to recover $6.3 million for the plan’s participants and resolve alleged violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.