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Compliance October 8, 2008
DoL Sues Firm for Abandoning Plan without Distributing Assets
October 8, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The U.S.
Department of Labor has sued the now-defunct People Unlimited
Consulting Inc. and two executives of the Charlotte, North
Carolina, employee staffing company for violating the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
Reported by Rebecca Moore
A DoL announcement said the executives failed to distribute $115,589 in 401(k) assets to eligible plan participants. The company abandoned the plan, and plan participants were unable to gain access to their 401(k) funds.
“Our legal action will ensure that these employees regain control over their funds,” said Bradford P. Campbell, assistant secretary for the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), in the announcement.
The DoL is asking the court to appoint a successor fiduciary to terminate the plan and distribute the proceeds to five plan participants. In addition, the suit seeks to remove Janice Love, the company’s owner, and Linda Marler, a senior administrator, as plan fiduciaries and to bar the defendants from serving as fiduciaries of any ERISA-covered plan.