DOL Sues Company to Restore Contributions

In an investigation conducted by the Department of Labor (DOL), electrical equipment installation company Steven Keares Inc., along with owner Harry Keares, were found to have violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by suppressing employee pay and failing to remit employee contributions and loan repayments.

Investigators disclosed that from April 27, 2012, through December 26, 2014, the company, which offered the Steven Keares Inc. 401(k) Retirement Plan for employees, had withheld pay and failed to remit $33,411 in employee contributions, along with $9,311 in loan repayments. Since June 7, 2016, the lost earnings are reported to be $4,128.

In addition, the company did not pay $111,403.29 in prevailing wage contributions to the plan from December 8, 2011, through April 18, 2014, resulting in $7,766 in lost earnings on prevailing wage contributions. Adding all figures, the total owed to the plan is $166,021.71.

The complaint is pursuing the missing employee contributions, loan repayments, wage contributions and the plan’s lost earnings, as well as removing the company and Keares as plan fiduciaries and instead appointing an independent fiduciary, permanently barring the company and Keares as plan fiduciaries, and applying Keares’ account balance to plan losses.