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Release Date: March 24, 2008
Release Number: 08-302-CHI
Contact Name: Brad Mitchell/Scott Allen
Phone Number: 312.353.6976
Elk Grove Village, Illinois – The U.S.
Department of Labor has sued the vice president and profit-sharing plan
trustee of Eagle International Ltd. in Elk Grove Village for violating
the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by making an
improper $30,000 loan to the company and failing to terminate the plan
after the company ceased operation in 2003.
The Labor Department’s lawsuit alleges that former
company vice president Catherine Dussias authorized a $30,000 loan to
herself in order to fund Eagle’s corporate operations, even though the
company’s profit-sharing plan does not allow such loans. The
department seeks to recover all assets owed to the plan, plus interest,
and to permanently bar Dussias from serving as a fiduciary to any ERISA-covered
plan. The suit also asks the court to appoint an independent fiduciary
to manage and terminate the plan.
“The department acts to help workers get their
benefits when plan assets are either misused or the plans are abandoned,”
said Steven Haugen, director of the department’s Chicago Regional
Office of the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), which
investigated the case.
The suit, filed in federal district court in Chicago,
resulted from an investigation conducted by EBSA’s Chicago office.
Employers and workers can reach that office at 312.353.0900 or through
EBSA’s toll-free number, 866.444.3272, for help with problems relating
to private sector retirement and health plans.
In fiscal year 2007, EBSA achieved monetary results
of $1.5 billion related to pension, 401(k), health and other benefits
for millions of American workers and their families.
Chao v. Eagle International
Civil Action Number 08-cv-1648
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