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Release Date: June 23, 2008
Release Number: 08-683-ATL (139)
Contact Name: Michael Wald
Phone Number: 404.562.2076

U.S. Department of Labor sues president of Nashville music entertainment company to recover employee benefit contributions

Atlanta – The U.S. Department of Labor has sued William Taylor, president of Nashville, Tennessee-based Homeland Entertainment Group, for failure to forward employee contributions to the company’s retirement plan in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

The lawsuit alleges that, over the course of a year, the company withheld employee contributions owed to the plan, failed to segregate the contributions from the company’s assets, and did not forward the assets to the plan in accordance with ERISA and the plan’s governing documents. Instead, the defendant co-mingled the funds with the general assets of the company.

“Employees intended these contributions to pay for their future retired years, not to benefit the company,” said Rebecca Marshall, director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), which investigated this case.

Filed in federal district court for the middle district of Tennessee, the suit seeks to restore to the plan all losses to the SIMPLE IRA Plan, including any lost earnings, which resulted from the breach of fiduciary obligations. In addition, the suit seeks to remove Taylor as fiduciary of the plan, appoint a successor trustee to distribute restored assets to the nine participants, and bar Taylor from serving as a fiduciary of any ERISA-covered plan in the future.

A Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) is an individual retirement arrangement (IRA) that allows employers and employees to make contributions to a traditional IRA subject to certain limits. The arrangement is suited for small employers who do not currently sponsor a retirement plan.

Employers and workers can reach EBSA’s Atlanta Regional Office at 404.302.3900 or toll-free at 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. William Traylor
(Civil Action Number 3:08-cv-00607)

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